Enough is Enough
by GrayNeko
Summary: Harry returns to Privet Drive after the Department of Mysteries fight. Fed up with being controlled by Dumbledore, Harry, with the help of his secret friend, Daphne Greengrass, run away. Together, they learn about the betrayal of Harry's so-called friends and prepare to take on the war I have Adopted this story
1. Chapter 1

June 26, 1996

In the smallest bedroom of Number 4 Privet Drive, Harry Potter laid in his bed, brooding about his godfather's recent death. He hadn't moved at all in the last three days. Due to his "hero-complex", as Hermione called it, Harry was suffering from the guilt of blaming himself for Sirius's death.

'If I didn't go charging into the Department of Mysteries, then Sirius would still be alive,' Harry thought. 'I have to learn Occlumency so I don't get tricked again.

'With this resolve, Harry knew that he needed to train harder if he wanted to make it out of this war alive. Right now, he didn't know who he could still trust. He was still angry at Dumbledore for not telling him about the prophecy.

If Dumbledore had told me earlier about the prophecy, then Sirius would still be alive. He should have trained me from the beginning! Since he hasn't done anything, I have to get out of this dump and learn to fight.'

'But who can I trust? Ron and Hermione? Ron can't keep a secret, especially when he is angry and Hermione has too much trust in Dumbledore. Remus owes too much to Dumbledore.'

'Who can I trust to help me run away?

Flashback

April 24, 1994 - Third Year

Harry was walking back from detention after curfew when he heard someone sniffling in an abandoned classroom. Walking in, he saw a familiar girl crying in the corner, but couldn't remember her name. He had never been with a crying girl before, so he didn't know what to do.

Awkwardly, Harry sunk to the ground next to her, mimicking the girl by folding in his legs and wrapping his arms around them. After a few minutes Harry built up a little courage and put an arm around the girl's until now, the girl had yet to notice Harry. With the sudden contact, she stiffened and looked to see who was holding her.

"Potter? What are you doing here?"

"I heard you in here when I was walking back from detention."

"Why are you comforting me?"

"Cause you're obviously upset about something..."

"But I'm in Slytherin.

"Harry sighed. "I don't hate every Slytherin, and I don't think that all Slytherins are evil. You're not evil are you?"

"Of course not!" shouted the girl indignantly.

Harry chuckled "Didn't think so. Besides, I don't even know your name"

"Greengrass, Daphne Greengrass

Harry chuckled "Harry was shocked that he was talking to the 'Ice Princess'. "So what has you here all alone? Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. Not right now, at least. Maybe another day. Thanks. We should probably get back. It's past curfew and I don't want to get caught by Filch."

"I can help you get back unnoticed," Harry stammered. "That is if you want my help.

"Daphne raised an eyebrow.

"You see...I have an invisibility cloak and a map that can help us"

"YOU HAVE AN INVISIBILITY CLOAK?" Daphne shouted.

Sheepishly, Harry admitted, "Yeah, it was my dad's, but you can't tell anyone! Okay?"

"Okay.

"Harry took out his cloak and the Marauder's Map, and showed Daphne how to use it. To say she was ecstatic would be an understatement. The two crept through the hallways to the dungeons, where the Slytherin common room was located.

"Thank you, Potter."

"Let me know if you ever want to talk. And call me Harry."

"Thanks...Harry. I might take you up on that.""Goodnight Daphne.

"Walking back to the Gryffindor tower, Harry was chuckling to himself. 'Who would have thought that I would be friends with a Slytherin?'

Present

The memory of his first time talking to Daphne finally brought a smile to Harry's face. The following year, Daphne had told Harry that she believed him that he didn't enter himself into the Triwizard Tournament. Even when his best friends turned their backs on him, she still stuck by his side. After the third task, Daphne had even snuck into the hospital wing to see him. This past year, she had believed him that Voldemort was actually back when others were calling him delusional and insane. The two had kept their friendship a secret so that the Slytherins wouldn't hurt Daphne.

Harry recalled when he and Daphne had finally opened up about their childhoods…

Flashback November 12, 1994

Harry and Daphne were sitting in the abandoned classroom where they had first met. Since finishing their homework, they were just talking to get to know each other.

Out of nowhere, Harry asks, "Why do you pretend to be the 'Ice Queen'?

"Daphne sighed. "It started when I was younger. My parents were always a bit cold to me and would ignore me a lot of the time. They never hit me or anything, but I learned that I how to rely on myself and hide my emotions." She went on to describe how her parents never showed her and her sister any love. By the end of her tale, Daphne was hands were shaking from reliving her Daphne in distress, Harry quickly went over and put his arms around her. He held her until she stopped shaking. Then, he told her about living with his relatives and how he had to do all the chores and would get beaten if he didn't finish them in time. This was his first time telling anyone about his childhood.

Seeing Daphne in distress, Harry quicly went over and put his arms around her. He held her until she stop shaking. Then, he told her about living with his relatives and how he had to do all the chores and would get beaten if he didn't finish them in time. This was his first time telling anyone about his chldhood. Not even Ron and Hermione knew all the details. When Harry finished, both he and Daphne had tears streaming out of their eyes

That day,Harry and Daphne became best friends, even though nobody else would know about it. Neither one of them ever told anyone else about the other's secrets.

Since then, Harry had been dreaming of beautiful blonde girls with mesmerizingly blue eyes. Unbeknownst to him, Daphne went to bed thinking about messy black hair and emerald green eyes.

Present

Who would have thought that one of Harry Potter, Gryffindor's Golden Boy's, best friends would be in Slytherin? Harry knew that Daphne would help him leave Privet Drive for good./ How do I get in touch with Daphne? I can't just run away without planning anything. I have to use my Slytherin side now'

"Dobby?

"With a pop, Dobby appeared in Harry's room. An excited squeal later, Dobby cried, "Oh Harry Potter, sir! Dobby is honored to be called by the great Harry Potter."

"Shh...Dobby, please keep it down. My relatives can't know that you're here."

"How can Dobby help the great Harry Potter?"

"You work for Hogwarts right?

" Dobby eagerly nodded. "Do you want to work for me?"

"Harry Potter is too kind! Dobby would love to work for Master Harry Potter!" Dobby wailed, while wrapping his arms around Harry's legs, nearly knocking him over.

"Please Dobby. Just call me Harry. I don't want to be anybody's master." Harry awkwardly replied.

"Of course, Master Harry Potter, sir!

"Sighing, Harry realized that Dobby was not going to drop the formality.

"How do I bond you to me?"

"Just say, 'I, Harry James Potter, claim the house elf Dobby as a servant of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter. So mote it be.'

"Upon completion of the bonding, Dobby was surrounded by a blue aura. When the aura disappeared, Dobby broke down into tears again.

Harry took a minute to figure out what to do next. "Dobby, can you take people when you apparate?

"Dobby nodded.

After a few moments, he found a quill and some parchment to write a letter to Daphne. Going to see Daphne would be too dangerous and risk getting caught by the Order. The Order of the Phoenix was supposed to be protecting Harry from Voldemort, but Harry figured that they were really to make sure he stayed in the house. Harry had to figure out how to escape, and he needed to talk to Daphne in person to see if she would run away with him. Eventually, Harry decided to send Dobby with a letter to Daphne and to bring her to him.

D

This is my new house elf Dobby. I need to speak to you in person. Dobby can bring you to me when you are ready. Please don't tell anyone about this. I'll explain everything when you get here.

Love,

H

"Dobby, can you take this to Daphne when she is alone?"

"Of course Master Harry Potter,sir!"

Scene Break

Daphne's parents, who had been neutral in the last war, had just told Daphne and her sister Astoria that they had aligned themselves with the Dark Lord

ran up to her room crying. She didn't know how long she cried but she was broken out of her stupor by a small pop. She turned around to see a strange looking house elf by her door.

"Hello Miss Daphne! I is Dobby. Master Harry Potter is sending you a letter," Dobby said while handing her an envelope with her name on it. Daphne recognized Harry's handwriting immediately and tore open the letter.

Upon reading the letter, Daphne turned to Dobby. "Could you please take me to Harry?

"Without replying, Dobby took Daphne's hand and apparated. Daphne felt like she was being pulled through a tube, and suddenly she found herself standing in a tiny room filled with broken toys. Even though Harry had told her about how he lived outside of Hogwarts, she was shocked by how bad his living conditions were.

"Hey Daph.

"She turned around and saw Harry sitting on the edge of his bed. Remembering what her parents had told her, Daphne rushed into Harry's arms and sobbed into his chest.

"Shh. Daphne what's wrong?" Harry rubbed circles on her back. Harry had always been there for Daphne when she needed him, and vice versa. Daphne told Harry about how her parents were now death eaters and openly supporting the end of her story. At the end of her story, Daphne asked, "So what did you need to talk to me about?"

"I'm going to run away to train on my own. Dumbledore wants to keep me here, away from everyone," Harry spat. "I know I can't do this alone, so can you help me for a get everything ready for me so I can leave in a few days?

"Of course," Daphne smiled. "I'll do whatever I can. I'm glad you're finally being Slytherin about this, instead of just disappearing without any plans like you Gryffindors like to do."

"There's something you have to know before you make your decision, though," Harry said warily. "I'll understand if you don't want to talk to me again. You'll be in a lot of danger-

"Daphne cut him off. "I'd rather be in danger than be with my death eater parents!"Harry sighed and began.

"There's a prophecy about me.

 _"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month_

"Once again, Daphne threw herself at Harry with tears in her eyes. Here in front of her was a boy, no man, who had suffered so much in his life and had the weight of the world on his shoulders. He was the only one who could defeat the Dark Lord. Daphne knew that Harry was strong, but everyone has a breaking point.

"I don't want to put you any more danger. I understand if you don't want to help me anymore."

"Stop being such a noble prat! I'm going to help you, and you can't do anything about it!" said Daphne, wrapping her arms around Harry.

Smiling, Harry hugged her back. When Daphne eventually pulled back, he couldn't help but notice how empty he felt.

"If we're going to be running away, can we take Astoria with us? I don't want to leave her to fend for herself," Daphne inquired.

"Of course. I want to get to know my best friend's sister.

"Daphne's face fell. She didn't want to be just a friend . For years Daphne had been dreaming of being held tightly by Harry's strong hands while he would snog her senseless. She felt like all her hopes and dreams were slipping.

Harry noticed Daphne's sudden change in demeanor. "Daph what's wrong?"

She just looked away with tears in her eyes. "C'mon Daph, you can talk to me about anything

"Hesitantly, Daphne replied, "Is that what I am? Just a best friend?"

Suddenly Harry realized that Daphne must have fancied him.

"Daphne look at me."

She hastily wiped her eyes, but refused to meet his eyes. Harry reached over, gently taking her chin and turning her to face him. Harry hated seeing her so heartbroken.

"Daphne, do you fancy me?" She dropped her head and stared at her toes.

"Daph?"

"Yes you idiot! I've-" Daphne replied, but was cut off by Harry's lips covering hers. She was so shocked that for a few moments, all she could was stare. All of the sudden, she closed her eyes and started kissing Harry back. She felt a soft hand caressing her cheek, while harry's other was on her waist. Hesitantly, she slipped her tongue out of her mouth, begging for entrance to Harry's, which he immediately granted. She loved feeling his soft lips massaging hers. After a while of wrestling tongues, they unlocked their lips. Harry was grinning brightly at her.

"I've wanted to do that for a long time."

"Me too."

"Daphne, will you be my girlfriend?"

"Yes, " Daphne whispered, before throwing herself at Harry again, snogging him senseless.

Harry and Daphne kicked off their shoes and laid down side by side on Harry's bed, talking about everything from their childhoods to their favorite foods. Harry told Daphne all about Sirius and how he died. Even though many people told Harry that Sirius's death was not his fault, he felt much better when Daphne told him as well. After talking Sirius, Harry felt like a great weight had been taken off of his shoulders. Late into the night, Harry and Daphne both drifted into a restful sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

**June 27, 1996**

"Master Harry Potter, sir! You must be getting up!"

Harry was startled awake by a frantic Dobby. He tried to sit up, but found that he couldn't. Looking down, he saw a mass of blonde hair splayed across his chest and remembered the events of last night. With a smile on his face, Harry slowly shifted out from underneath Daphne to get out of bed.

"Miss Daffie must be getting home. Miss's father is waiting for her. Dobby is locking Miss Daffie's bathroom. Miss's father is thinking Miss in shower."

"Thanks Dobby. Let me wake her up.

"Daph," whispered Harry, trying to wake her up.

"Five more minutes Tori."

Harry chuckled. "It's Harry. You have to get home before your father finds out that you're gone."

Daphne was startled by Harry's voice. Sitting up, she was confused as to where she was. She saw Harry smiling down at her and a flood of memories filled her brain. Remembering last night brought a radiant smile to her face as she walk over to Harry to give him a passionate kiss.

"Good morning to you too."

"That was the best sleep I've had in a long time."

"Me too. You need to get going so that your dad notices that you're away. He thinks that you're taking a shower right now. Dobby can pop you to your bathroom."

"Thanks. I can pretend to go to Tracy's house for the day and come back to start planning. I'll have to be back in time for dinner."/pp"Great. Just call Dobby and he can bring you back."

"I'll see you soon," said Daphne before giving him one last kiss. Taking Dobby's hand, they popped away.

Harry decided that he needed to make a list of things that he had to accomplish and a list of skills that he wanted to learn. He found a pen and paper and began to make plans. Being muggle raised, Harry never understood why the Wizarding World insisted upon using quills and parchment. Pens could last a long time, were a less messy, and a lot easier to write with. Parchment was just too expensive. Chalking it up to the Wizarding World's bigotry of muggles, Harry returned his attention to his task at hand.

After a while, Dobby popped back into Harry's room, startling him and causing him to fall out of his chair. Smiling sheepishly at Dobby, Harry picked himself up and turned towards Dobby.

"Master Harry Potter, sir. Dobby is sleeping at Hogwarts last night and is telling Winky about working for Master Harry Potter," Dobby cautiously spoke.

Harry was suddenly worried that Dumbledore knew that he had hired Dobby. "Dobby, do you have to obey Dumbledore?"

"No Master Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby replied quickly. "Dobby was free elf and now loyal to Master."

Relieved, Harry said, "Please Dobby. Call me just Harry, or if you must, sir."

"Yes Harry Potter, sir! You is too kind!" Cried Dobby, wrapping himself around Harry's knees.

"Now, Dobby is there anything I can do for you?"

"Dobby is speaking to Winky and Winky is wanting to serve a family again."

"Dobby, are you asking me if I will bind Winky to the Potter family?" Dobby nodded.

"Could you please bring her here?"

With a pop, Dobby was gone again.

Sitting down, Harry wondered what Hermione would say if she found out that Harry had house elves. Soon, his mind was thinking about other things. Harry wanted to believe that his friendships were real, but, right now, he was only positive about Daphne. Because he was always with Ron and Hermione, Harry never really had a chance to make friends with anyone else.

Of course Harry had talked to people, but he had never been close to anyone. Dudley made sure that he had never had any friends before Hogwarts, so Harry was afraid of losing the few friends that he did have. Now, he was wondering if he should have gotten to know some other people. He had lived in the same dorm as Neville for five years, and like all the other people, he thought that Neville was weak. Yet, he was the only person, other than Harry, still standing at the end of the battle.

Harry decided to wait until Daphne came back to discuss what he should do. Harry planned on contacting Neville to get to know him better.

A few minutes later, Dobby popped back with Winky, who Harry recognized as Crouch's former elf

"Winky, you want to be bonded to my family?"

Winky nodded rapidly, staring up at him with hopeful eyes.

"Okay. I, Harry James Potter, claim the house elf Winky as a servant of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Potter. So mote it be."

"Thank you! Thank you Master Harry Potter, sir!" cried Winky.

"Welcome to the family Winky. Now, I want to talk to both of you about some rules. One, I don't want either of you hurting yourself, ever. Two, I want both of you to wear clothes."

"Master-" Winky cried, but was interrupted by Harry.

"I'm not freeing you. I want you to dress nicely. Perhaps a maid's dress for you and a shirt and slacks for Dobby. Next, I want you both to have the weekends off."

"Master Harry Potter sir! That is too much. We is not needing rest."

"Dobby, I want you both to have some time for yourselves. You can take the time to learn something or have fun. If you want to do something, let me know and I can give you money for it."

"Master is too kind!" wailed the two house elves, tears beginning to fall.

"Winky is hearing from Dobby that Master Harry Potter is the greatest wizard in the world. Master is too nice. Winky need no free time. Winky lives to serve."

"There must be something that you want to do. Do you like to draw or sew?"

Embarrassed, Winky replied, "Winky is wanting to paint, Master Harry Potter, sir."

"Great! If I give you some money, can you buy yourself supplies?" Winky nodded

"Okay, one last rule. I've already told Dobby this a few times, but he seems to have forgotten. I don't want you to call me master. I want to be your employee, friend even."

Dobby looked down in shame. "Dobby, that's okay. You're still getting used to it. I'm not going to punish you if you accidentally call me master. Just please try to call me just Harry."

"Thank you master!" Dobby cried.

"Can you two stay at Hogwarts so that Dumbledore doesn't become suspicious. I'm going to have to do some things that he won't agree with."

"Of course Harry Potter, sir!" replied Dobby immediately, while Winky looked unsure.

Suddenly Dobby popped away, most likely to retrieve Daphne.

 **Scene Break**

Dobby had just apparated Daphne into her bathroom. Looking around, Daphne heard that her shower was on.

"Dobby is turning shower on so Miss Daffie's father is thinking Miss Daffie in shower."

"Thank you, Dobby. I'll call you when I'm ready to go see Harry."

After Dobby popped away, Daphne undressed and stepped into the shower,. Inside the shower, Daphne relaxed and let the warm water run down her body while she closed her eyes and remembered when Harry had kissed her for the first time.

Stepping out of the shower, Daphne got dressed and went across the hall to Astoria's room. She opened the door just as Astoria was putting on her socks.

"What are you so damn happy about?"/pp"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"Your smile. It's almost blinding me. You looked like you finally kissed Potter or something."

Daphne blushed and quickly turned around to stroll out of the room. Pausing by the door, she turned her face and said, "I need to talk to you tonight.

"Walking slowly for Astoria to catch up, Daphne resumed her 'Ice Queen' demeanor as she and Astoria descended the stairs and made their way into the family dining room.

Tipsy, one of the Greengrass elves served the two girls their favorite breakfasts and bowed out. Lord Greengrass barely glanced at his two daughters. He was too busy reading the Daily Prophet.

Daphne noticed that her father was looking very tired this morning. 'The Dark Lord must be angry and punishing his followers. Serves him right."

Astoria noticed her sister's dark look and raised an eyebrow at her.

"Later," mouthed Daphne. Astoria accepted this with a nod.

"Pass the syrup please." Astoria asked. The syrup was in front of her father, but he did not even reply.

"Father, pass the syrup please." she asked again. This time, a grunt was her reply, but Lord Greengrass still did not make any motion to hand her the syrup.

With a resigned sigh, Daphne got up, walked over to her father, and took the syrup back to where she and Astoria were sitting.

At the end of breakfast, Daphne and Astoria excused themselves from the table.

"Father, can I visit Tracey today?" Another grunt./pp

Instead of asking again, Daphne grabbed Astoria's arm and led them back into Astoria's room.

"Daphne. What are we going to do? Father chose to follow the Dark Lord, but You-Know-Who doesn't care about anyone. When he's done with the muggle-borns and half-bloods, he'll just turn on us," cried Astoria.

"Shh. I'm going to make sure we're alright. Give me a few days to figure this out. I'll sneak into your room tonight, so wait up for me."

"You're not actually going to Tracy's house are you?"

"I'm going to stop by, but I'll be mostly somewhere else. I can't tell you now, but we'll figure it out. We'll be alright." said Daphne, giving Astoria a hug.

Since their parents did not show them any affection, Daphne and Astoria were very close and knew each other better than anyone. Despite Astoria being a year younger, the two sisters would have been almost identical if they had the same color hair. Daphne's was a beautiful golden blonde, while Astoria's was a deep brown.

"I'll be gone all day, but back in time for Dinner, so be careful. Father's not in a very good mood, so steer clear of him. I'll fill you in on everything tonight."

"Be safe Daphne."

Daphne left her sister and made her way into the entrance hall. Taking a handful of floo powder and throwing it into the fireplace, she shouted, "Davis Manor!"

Tracy, although a half-blood was accepted by the Slytherins because her father came from a Noble House and lived in a pure-blood manor.

The Davis's house elf, Mips, popped in and told Daphne that Tracey was in her bedroom. Making her way upstairs, Daphne felt much more relaxed at the Davis Manor than at her own family manor. Greengrass manor was decorated too formally. Davis Manor actually felt like a place that someone would want to live in.

"Tracey?" Called Daphne, coming into Tracy's room. Like most pure blood witches, Tracy's bedroom was very spacious with regal-looking furniture. In the middle was a king-size four poster bed with an unnecessary amount pillows, along with a giant stuffed bunny that Tracey had won at a fair. On one side of the bedroom was a sitting area, with sofas and couches. On the other was a desk and bookshelf. Unlike most purebloods, Tracy's parents allowed her to put up posters and pictures to 'personalize' her room.

"Over here!" shouted Tracey from her desk. She had been getting a head start on her transfiguration essay.

"Trace, can we talk?"

"Let me finish this sentence."/ppWhen Tracey was finished, the two girls made their way over to the bed and sat on top of the covers, facing each other.

"Last night, father informed Astoria and I that he had taken the mark."/pp

Tracey gasped. "I'm so sorry," she said, giving her friend a hug.

Hugging her back, Daphne said, "I'm running away with Harry and we're bringing Astoria along."

"You and Potter, huh?"

"Shut up."

"Did he Potter finally kiss you?"

"Tracey…"

"Oh! He did, didn't he?" squealed Tracey.

"Fine. Yes he did. He had his house elf bring me to him last night so that we could talk. Running away was actually his idea."

"Gryffindor's Golden Boy isn't going to be Dumbledore's pet anymore?" Tracey asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Something like that. We'll be gone in a few days. Don't tell anyone. Father's most likely going to ask you if you know anything. Keep your occlumency shields up. I have to go back to Harry's relative's house, but father thinks that I'll be here all day. If he comes looking, call for Dobby. He's Harry's new elf. He'll be able to bring me here if father comes looking."

"Okay, but you better owl me after you leave!"

"Of course I will. I'll be back later so I can floo home from your home."

"Have fun with lover boy, and use protection" smirked Tracey.

"Oh shut up," replied Daphne blushing.

"Dobby!"

A small pop and Dobby appeared next to Daphne. "Is Miss Daffie ready to go to see Master Harry Potter?"

Tracy giggled at Daphne's nickname. Glaring back, Daphne replied, "Please, Dobby."

Another pop later and they were gone.

"Wow Dobby, I never noticed earlier, but that feels a lot better than side-along apparition."

"We elves is having house elf magic."

Daphne saw Harry sitting at his desk and plopped herself on his lap, pulling him into a deep kiss.

"Daphne, I want to introduce you to Winky, she's my new elf, but I want her to take care of you. Winky, can you be Daphne's personal elf this summer?"

"Winky is happy to serve Mistress!" the ecstatic house elf announced./pp

"Daph, I made a list of things that we should probably do. Can you take a look?"

"I think we should make sure that Dumbledore didn't put any listening or tracking charms on you or the house."

"Damn! What if he already knows our plan? We can't do any magic anyway, and if we go to the park, the Order has people following me."

Timidly, Dobby said, "Master, Dobby is able to check for magic on Harry Potter's belongings."

"Great! Dobby can you and Winky sweep the whole house for tracking and listening charms?"

"Of course Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby and Winky popped away, leaving Harry and Daphne alone.

"Let's wait until they come back to go over your lists."

"Fine with me," replied Harry, pulling Daphne into another Kiss. They made their way to the bed and cuddled until the two elves returned.

"Dobby is finding tracking spells on Harry Potter's wand, glasses, invisibility cloak, and trunk," said Dobby when he was finished.

"Winky is finding listening charms in living room and kitchen."

Harry was livid. Dumbledore knew of his abuse, but continued to allow it to happen. He was hoping that he could give Dumbledore the benefit of the doubt, but the old coot had crossed the line. On the other hand, Harry was relieved that there were no listening charms in his bedroom, so Dumbledore did not know of his plans yet.

"Thank you Winky. Dobby, can you remove the tracking charms on my stuff?"

"Dobby can, but old man will find out if Dobby remove charms."

Daphne suggested, "How about transferring them to something else?"

"You're a genius!" cried Harry, pulling Daphne into a passionate kiss, while she giggled at his response. "Dobby, can you move them to Dudley's old toys?"

Dobby nodded enthusiastically and snapped his fingers a few times, announcing that he was finished.

"Dobby, Winky, why don't you two head back to Hogwarts. We'll let you know when we need you."

Two pops later, Harry and Daphne were alone again.

"Now that we know that we can talk freely, let's take a look at your lists."

Harry pulled out the two lists that he made and showed it to Daphne.

To Do List

Go to Gringotts and ask about finances.

Assume Lordship

Ask about Sirius's will

Ask about parents' will

Get new clothes

Get backup wand(s)

Buy books of many subjects

Buy pensive

Find a way around underage magic laws

Daphne was impressed. She had very little to add

"You should also take an inheritance and abilities test."

"What's that?"

"It shows if you inherited any other vaults or titles and what powers you have. The only people who take it anymore are purebloods because it's fairly expensive, but you can afford it no problem."

"Okay we'll do that too. Is that at Gringotts, too?"

Daphne nodded. "Yup. Let's not worry about training until we get away. Let's go to Gringotts!"

"Wait. We need disguises. I can't go out looking like the Boy-Who-Lived."

"Yeah, and I'm supposed to be at Tracy's."

"Dobby?" Harry called. Dobby and Winky appeared.

"Can you and Winky change our appearances?" inquired Daphne.

Nodding, Dobby and Winky both snapped their fingers a few times. Harry's hair lengthened to his shoulders and turned a dirty blonde, while his eyes changed to a deep brown. Daphne's hair changed into a deep auburn and Winky conjured a pair of stylish sunglasses for her to wear. Both their clothes turned into respectable robes. Looking into the mirror, they couldn't recognize themselves.

The only problem was that there was no way to hide Harry's scar. It seemed that the cursed scar could not be concealed by magic.

"Winky, can you go to my room and get my make makeup kit?" asked Daphne.

Two quick pops later and Winky was back with Daphne's makeup. When Harry realized what she was going to do, he blushed. He could just imagine what Malfoy would say if he found out that Harry wore makeup. After some careful color mixing to match Harry's skin color, his lightning bolt scar was now hidden.

"Dobby, Winky, can you take us to the alley outside of the Leaky Cauldron?"

Harry and Daphne each took the hand of an elf and they were quickly apparated to an empty alley.

"Thanks. You can go back to what you were doing. Here's a galleon each to buy whatever you want." said Harry./ppThe two elves, with tears in their eyes, gave Harry a hug and popped away.

Harry and Daphne pulled up the hoods of their cloaks and made their way into the Leaky Cauldron. The pub looked just like it had when Harry stayed there before his third year. The teens found a quiet booth and ordered lunch, making small talk while they ate. When they were done, they got up to leave.

Opening the portal to Diagon Alley, they were greeted with an unfamiliar sight. Instead of the usual crowded streets with little children playing everywhere, the alley was very barren. The few people that actually chose to visit the alley all had their hoods drawn and were rushing from one store to another. Despite being almost noon, the Alley had a indescribable feeling of darkness.

While Harry was distractedly taking in what had become of Diagon Alley, Daphne was steering them to the still magnificent building of Gringotts Bank.

Approaching a somewhat familiar goblin teller, Daphne announced, "Good morning Master Goblin. We would like to meet with the Potter account manager."

"May I ask who is interested in meeting a senior account manager?" sneered the goblin.

This time Harry spoke. "Harry Potter and Daphne Greengrass, sir."

"Apologies Mr. Potter. I will let Riptooth know that you are here to see him."

"Thank you, Griphook." responded Harry

Shocked that a wizard remembered his name, Griphook couldn't help but be impressed by this wizard. The goblin checked with Riptooth and made his way back to his booth.

"Please follow me. I will take you to Riptooth's office," instructed Griphook. The goblin opened a set of doors and swiftly led the teens through a maze of hallways, never checking to see if they were keeping up.

Bowing, Griphook announced that they had arrived and opened a large door to a very regal-looking office. To the shock of everyone, Harry bowed back before making his way into the office. Daphne followed him in, and Riptooth told them to make themselves comfortable as Griphook excused himself.

"Mr. Potter. Might I ask why you bowed to Griphook?"

"He bowed to me, so I thought it would be rude not to bow back. I'm sorry if I did something wrong. I meant no disrespect," replied Harry.

Daphne shook her head. To Harry this would have been perfectly normal behavior, but no wizard had ever bowed to a goblin before, and she let Harry know.

"Mr. potter, I can see that you will be a great wizard. Now, what was the purpose of your visit to Gringotts?" inquired the account manager.

"I believe I have a few things to do. First, could I see a bank statement for everything I own?"

"Might I suggest taking an inheritance and abilities test first? Due to the price, only those purebloods who could afford the test have taken it. However, when the purebloods started marrying amongst themselves, they already knew what vaults they were inheriting, so they did not both to take the test anymore," Riptooth said.

"Now, your father was pureblood and took his test, but your mother was muggleborn, so I doubt that you will inherit anything that your parents did not know about. But, I can tell that you have a lot of power, so I feel that you may have many natural abilities."

"Can Daphne take it too?" asked Harry. Daphne gave Harry a hug. She was touched that he was thinking about her.

"Yes, she can. The cost is insignificant compared to your wealth," said Riptooth, summoning a goblin to fetch two tests.

When the other goblin returned, Riptooth placed two expensive looking sheets of parchment on the edge of his desk and laid a golden quill on each. He handed Harry and Daphne each a silver dagger and instructed them to slice their palms and place 11 drops of blood on the parchment in front of them.

As soon as the last drop of blood was absorbed into the parchment, the gold quills floated over the parchment and began scratching words that Harry and Daphne were too far away to see. When the quills stopped moving, they suddenly exploded over the parchment, giving it a slightly golden sheen.

'I guess that's why it's so expensive,' thought Harry.

"Here are your results. Please take your the time looking over them. Let me know if you need anything," said Riptooth.

Harry motioned for Daphne to read hers first. She took it off of Riptooth's desk and held it in between them and they read it together.

Name: Daphne Elizabeth Greengrass

Father: Marcus Tiberius Greengrass

Mother: Aurora Jane Greengrass née Adams

Vaults:

Daphne Elizabeth Greengrass Trust Vault (#852)

Greengrass Vault - Available when of age.

Powers:

Animagus

Occlumency

Affinities:

Defensive Battle magic

Potions

Charms

Healing

"Wow. I'm glad that we died this," announced Daphne.

"Me too."

"Now we knows why potions and charms are so much easier for me."

"if I can be an animagus too, I think we should learn how to transform. Or would be useful and it cool to follow in my dad's footsteps."

"Definitely, " said Daphne, smiling. She knew that Harry wanted to connect when his parents.

Setting Daphne's results back on Riptooth's desk, Harry picked up his and they read it together.

Name: Harry James Potter

Father: James Charlus Potter

Mother: Lily Marie Potter née Evans

Vaults:

Harry Potter Trust Vault (#687)

James Potter Personal Vault (#703) - Available when of age

Lily Potter Personal Vault (#692) - Available when of age

Potter Vault - Available when of age

Peverell Vault - Available when of age

Sirius Black Personal Vault (#711)

Black Vault - Available when of age

Powers:

Animagus

Limited Metamorphmagus (Blocked)

Occlumency (Blocked)

Affinities:

Offensive Battle Magic

Transfiguration

Harry was stunned by the amount of vaults he owned. When he became of age, he was going to be a very wealthy man. He was just glad that he had got to know Daphne before they found out about his wealth./pp

The name Peverell stunned Daphne. Since she was raised as a pureblood, she knew that the Peverell family was very old and supposedly died out a long time ago. She decided that this was not very important at the moment and would bring it up with Harry later./pp

"It seems that Sirius left you as his heir. At least Malfoy won't get his hands on any Black gold. You might also be able to take up the Black Lordship when you get emancipated. Seeing as you're the last living heir, you can be emancipated on your sixteenth birthday, next month."/pp

"What does being Lord Black entail?"/pp"For starters, you would have another vote on the Wizengamot. Also, with two lordships, you are entitled to two wives," Daphne solemnly said.

Harry brought her into a hug and kissed her hair. "You will be my only wife. You'll be Lady Potter-Black."

"Riptooth, can we keep these?" asked Harry.

"Of course, Mr. Potter. As of right now, we are only able to show you the bank statements to your trust vault. Would you like to hear your godfather's will before we move on to your assets.?

"Harry suddenly stiffened. He was afraid of hearing Sirius's will because that would mean that he was definitely gone. Harry knew that he couldn't change the past, but admitting Sirius's death was hard for him.

Thankfully Daphne took over. "Could you bring his parents' will as well?"

Riptooth touched his finger to something on his desk, and Griphook came in. "Griphook, please fetch the wills of Sirius Black and James and Lily Potter. Also bring the Potter, Peverell, and Black portfolios.

"Five minutes later, Griphook returned with three thick folders and two envelopes.

"Well, Mr. Potter. It looks like your parents' will was sealed by magic, which can only be done by the Chief Warlock of the Wizengamot, who happens to be Albus Dumbledore.

"Harry mentally swore. "Is it legal to seal their will? And is there a way to unseal them?"

"Only the head of house can unseal a will, which means that you'll have to wait until you are emancipated. However, if I assume correctly, your godfather may have had you emancipated."

Both Harry and Daphne were fuming. Dumbledore probably sealed the will to make sure that he would end up at the Dursleys.

"Can we hear Sirius's will?" asked Daphne.

"As you are not named in the will, Miss Greengrass, you can only be present if Mr. Potter, here, wishes you to be here." stated Riptooth.

"I trust Daphne with everything and I want her by my side," responded Harry.

Riptooth opened an envelope and began./pp"This is the Last Will and Testament of Lord Sirius Orion Black."

I, Sirius Orion Black, being of sound mind and body, do hereby declare this document to be my Last Will and Testament, and declare all previous wills made by myself to be void.

I, Sirius Orion Black, Head of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, hereby banish Bellatrix Rose and Narcissa Adelina from the House of Black.

I, Sirius Orion Black, Head of the Ancient and Most Noble House of Black, hereby reinstate Andromeda Beatrice as a member of the House of Black

To Remus John Lupin, I leave you 500,000 galleons, a lifetime order of Wolfsbane Potion, and my flat in muggle London. The flat includes a reinforced room for during the full moon.

To Andromeda Tonks, I leave you your Black Dowry of 1,400,000 galleons.

To Nymphadora Tonks, I leave you 500,000 galleons and your Black Dowry of 1,400,000 galleons when you get married.

To my godson and my heir, Harry James Potter, I leave you my personal vault, my family vault, and all black properties. Since you are my heir, I have left you with the Black Lordship and signed emancipation papers."

"Mr. Potter, here are the emancipation papers. Just sign right here and you will be considered an adult. Gringotts will file your papers with the Ministry discretely," said Riptooth, pointing at the bottom of a piece of parchment.

Just as Harry was about to sign, Daphne snatched the quill away. "Never sign anything without reading it! Especially with a blood quill." she admonished.

Daphne read the emancipation papers thoroughly and announced that it was okay to sign them. Riptooth seemed impressed by her caution. For someone so young, she seemed to know a lot about taking caution in the "adult" world.

"Now that you are emancipated, you may now claim the titles Lord Potter and Lord Black, or Lord Potter-Black and can unseal your parents will. Your godfather's will was scheduled to be read in two weeks. Would you like to cancel the reading and just notify the beneficiaries?"

"No please, keep the meeting. Could we read my parents' will now?"

Riptooth unsealed the remaining envelope. "Your parents wrote one will between them."/pp"This is the Last Will and Testament of James Charlus Potter and lily Marie Potter."

I, James Charlus Potter, being of sound mind and body, do hereby declare this document to be my Last Will and Testament, and declare all previous wills made by myself to be void.

I, Lily Marie Potter, being of sound mind and body, do hereby declare this document to be my Last Will and Testament, and declare all previous wills made by myself to be void.

In the event of one of our deaths, the other shall receive everything."/em/ppem"/emem

In the event of both of our deaths, our son, Harry James Potter will receive everything. Custody for Harry will go in the order as follows: Sirius Orion Black, Frank and Alice Longbottom, Remus John Lupin, Amelia Susan Bones. Harry's guardian(s) will receive 400 galleons per month for taking care of our son."/em/pp

By now, Harry's magic was completely out of control. Objects in the office started levitating themselves while Harry was surrounded by a pulsing green aura. Before Harry's magic could destroy anything, Daphne quickly took his hands, and looked into his eyes, telling him to calm down. After a few minutes, Harry finally collapsed into the back of his chair, exhausted. The floating objects came crashing to the floor./pp

With a snap of his fingers, Riptooth returned the office back to normal. The goblin pulled a box out from under his desk and handed it to Harry./pp

"These are the rings for the Potter and Black Lordships. The Potter family stopped wearing the Peverell ring many centuries ago because the three original Peverells were rumored to be the three brothers who received gifts from Death himself. Are you going to continue to keep your Peverell bloodline a secret?"/pp

Harry nodded./pp

"Very well then. Once you place the Potter and Black rings on, you will officially be known as Lord Potter-Black. The magic in the rings will fuse them together into one ring. Since you are primarily a Potter, the Potter crest will be centered and the Black crest will on the side. When you wish to use the Black crest, simply will it to become dominant. The ring is also a portkey that is tied directly to the family magics, so you can use it to portkey to any of your Potter or Black properties by simply tapping it with your wand and announcing which property you would like to go to."/pp

Harry slid the Potter ring onto his left pinky. With a small flash, the ring re-sized itself to fit Harry's finger. He repeated the same process with the Black ring. This time, after the flash, there was only one ring, with a Potter crest in the middle and a smaller Black crest on the side./pp

"Congratulations Lord Potter-Black," said Riptooth./ppHe then led them outside and walked them to a conference room. Riptooth handed them the portfolios for the Potter, Black, and Peverell accounts./pp

Harry and Daphne quickly got to work on looking through the portfolios, each taking a side of the conference table. They then sorted the piles into investments, properties, gold, and other files./pp

The Potter family had more gold than either of them imagined. Daphne told Harry that he could buy out the Malfoy family and he wouldn't notice a difference. They also had properties in many countries. Each property had pictures to go along with them. Daphne decided to make a copy of their properties to vacation at later. She knew from her father that Harry's head of house rings could portkey them to any properties owned by that family. Daphne was happy to note that Harry owned a good portion of Diagon Alley and had investments in many important muggle and magical businesses. She made sure to remember to have a talk with the Daily Prophet about what they were publishing./pp

Going through the Black Family portfolio, the two noticed that the Black family had much fewer properties than the Potter family and also had much less gold. The properties that the family owned were mostly in Knockturn Alley, dealing with shadier businesses./pp

To Daphne's surprise, the Peverell family had only liquid assets, and even that was not a lot of gold./pp

"Harry there's something you need to see," Daphne said cautiously./pp

Harry made his way over to Daphne, who was holding a piece of parchment with shaking hands. "What's wrong?"/pp

Daphne struggled to keep her temper in check. The only reason that she wasn't blowing up yet was because her 'Ice Queen' persona had perfected her abilities to hide her emotions. Before allowing Harry to look at the paper, she made sure that Harry was not going to explode when he saw what was written./pp

When Harry saw the list of expenditures over the last fifteen years, he was not angry anymore. All he felt was disappointment and betrayal./pp

Since the death of his parents, Dumbledore had been moving 10,000 galleons per month into his vault. Also, since first year, he had been moving 500 galleons per month into the vaults of Ron, Hermione, and Mrs. Weasley. Harry had apparently also paid for the Weasleys to go to Romania and completely funded the Order of the Phoenix./pp

They set the parchment aside so that they could bring it up with Riptooth later./pp

Harry made the next significant find. In the Potter portfolio, Harry found a marriage contract with one, Genevra Molly Weasley and his 'will'. Seeing as how he never wrote a will, this was obviously a fake. Also, since the marriage contract was made during his first year, there was no way that Harry's parents agreed to this. On the bottom was Harry's name, written in a loopy handwriting in a red ink./pp

To say that he was upset would be an understatement. Harry's aura flared again, nearly blinding Daphne on the other side of the room. He was seething, and all he could see was red. Faintly he heard Daphne shouting for him to calm himself. It wasn't until he felt her arms around him that he finally was able to see clearly again./pp

Seeing how they were done with everything else, Harry and Daphne cleaned up the portfolios and made their way back to Riptooth's office. From the look on Harry and Daphne's faces, they were clearly not happy about what they had found./pp

"I take it that you have found something unsatisfactory?"/pp

"There have been many withdrawals that I have not authorized, along with a marriage contract and a will."/pp

"Let me see. The withdrawals were all made by Albus Dumbledore. However, they are all supposed to be done with your approval." Looking through some files, the goblin continued. "Here are all the withdrawal notes, signed by you, since 1981."/pp

"How was I supposed to sign something when I was only a year old?"/pp

"I apologize Lord Potter-Black. We will get this fixed immediately!"/pp

"Wait!" interrupted Daphne. "Can you hold off on doing anything until we want to? If we can build a case against Dumbledore, we can get back the funds during the next Wizengamot session so that Dumbledore doesn't have a heads up."/ppRiptooth grinned. The goblins had never liked Albus Dumbledore, since he never treated goblins with an ounce of respect./pp

"We can do that. Also, in order for marriage contracts to be binding, they must be sealed in blood by the two heads of houses. Since there was no head of house at the time, there is no way for this contract to be valid. If you can rip the contract, then it is not valid. A true magical contract is indestructable."/pp

Harry then proceeded to rip the contract in half, gaining a smile from Daphne and a sigh of relief from Harry. Although he did not know if Ginny had anything to do with this, he was going to be cautious. Right now, he definitely knew he couldn't trust Dumbledore, Mrs. Weasley, and Ron. He didn't know about the other Weasleys yet. He thought that Fred and George were most likely on his side. Harry reasoned that he could probably trust Mr. Weasley if Mrs. Weasley was putting the money in her personal vault, instead of the Weasley Vault./pp

"If we keep the torn marriage contract, we can also charge Dumbledore with attempted line theft." Daphne smiled. She never trusted the old goat, and now she was going to enjoy taking him down./pp

"Now, since, if I die, I don't want to leave everything to Mrs. Weasley and Dumbledore, can I write a new will?"/pp

Riptooth handed Harry an official looking parchment and quill, and Harry proceeded to write his will. Even though he was only fifteen, He knew that his life was in danger and he didn't want just anybody getting their hands on his money. Harry left a few million galleons to distribute free Wolfsbane Potion to werewolves, 30 million to starting an orphanage, and he left the rest to Daphne. Harry signed the will and Daphne signed it as a witness./pp

As it was getting late, Harry's last order of business was removing everybody else's access to his vaults and keying Daphne to all of his vaults as well. They figured that they could explore the vaults tomorrow and go shopping.

Exiting to Diagon Alley, Harry and Daphne went to the Leaky Cauldron and found a private booth and ordered butterbeers. Daphne set up silencing wards around their booth to prevent anyone from eavesdropping./pp

After Harry raised an eyebrow, Daphne replied, "There's so much magic in Diagon Alley that they can't tell who cast the spell."

Harry had never thought about how the Ministry tracked underage magic, but Daphne's explanation made sense.

"Don't worry. Tomorrow, we'll find someone to take off our ministry tracking charms from our wands," said Daphne.

Harry smiled. He was going to have a lot of fun without underage magic restrictions. "Tomorrow, let's find a place to hide this summer."/ppDaphne's response was sliding a folder in front of him. This was the copies she had made of all the properties that he owned./pp

"I think we should check out Potter Manor. Nobody knows why your parents moved to Godric's Hollow, but the manor's wards are pretty extensive. I also want you to take me sometime to Sirius's private island in the Caribbean. Both places are unplottable. We'll be safe there. The best place for training will probably be Potter Manor, but we can take some time off to visit the island."/pp

When Daphne mentioned a private island, Harry's thoughts drifted to a picture of Daphne tanning on a beach, wearing a very revealing, white bikini. When he noticed that Daphne was finished talking and looking at him, Harry blushed deeply./pp

"U-um, yeah…" stuttered Harry./pp

Shaking her head, Daphne continued, we should probably get all of our shopping out of the way tomorrow so that we can leave as soon as possible."/pp

After some small talk and sipping the last of their butterbeers, Harry and Daphne made their way out to muggle London and hid in the alleyway that most wizards used to access the magical part of the city./pp

Harry pulled Daphne into a passionate, toe curling kiss. After a battle of tongues, they separated./pp

"Dobby! Winky!" called Harry. The two elves appeared. "Can you remove our glamours now?"/pp

Now that they had their appearances back, The two teens kissed one last time before Winky brought Daphne to Tracy's bedroom and Dobby apparated Harry back to his room at the Dursley's.

Harry was already asleep before his head touched his pillow. He was both emotionally and physically drained from the day's revelations./pp

Daphne, on the other hand, was still going to be up for a few hours./pp

When Daphne and Winky unexpectedly appeared next to Tracy's bed, Tracy promptly screamed and fell off the side of her bed. Winky giggled lightly before apparating away, while Daphne didn't hold back her laughter. She was clutching her sides, rolling on the floor in laughter./pp

"DAPHNE ELIZABETH GREENGRASS!" Tracy tried to sternly admonish, but she also realized the humor and started laughing herself./pp

When they finally calmed down, Tracy asked, "So how was spending your day with lover boy?"/pp

Daphne sighed deeply and told Tracy about what they had found out. Tracy was shocked at how life had treated the boy. She never would have guessed that his best friends were stealing money from him./pp

When she needed to go home to dinner, Daphne made her way to the entrance hall floo and called out, "Greengrass Manor!"/pp

Daphne went upstairs to change into something more appropriate for a family dinner. At promptly six thirty, Daphne and Astoria both walked into the family dining room for dinner. Dinner, like always, was a quiet affair in the Greengrass household. After dinner, Daphne retired to her room to work on homework./pp

At eleven, when she knew her parents were asleep, she made her way into Astoria's room.

/pp"Tori?"/pp

"Over here." Astoria was pretending to sleep. Daphne tip-toed her way to the bed and slid in across from her sister./pp

"So where were you today?" asked Astoria./pp

"I went to Gringotts with Harry."

"Potter?"

"What other Harry's do you know?" asked Daphne sarcastically./pp

"What were you doing with Potter?"/pp

"I'm running away with him. It might be tomorrow or the day after. Do you want to come with us?"

"Yes! Thank you so much!" cried Astoria, hugging Daphne tightly.

"Shh...We're going to go shopping tomorrow, so you should probably come with us."

"Where are we going to get all the money?"

"Harry has a lot of money. Trust me, he could buy all of Britain and still have more than the Malfoys."

Astoria's eyes bugged. She couldn't imagine one person being so wealthy.

"Where are we going to stay?" she asked.

"Most likely Potter Manor. I'm sure there's enough bedrooms for everyone."

"Are you going to sleep with Potter?"Daphne blushed. "N-no. I'll probably be getting my own room."

Daphne told Astoria what she and Harry had found out today at Gringotts. Astoria didn't know Harry well, but if he was able to see through Daphne's 'Ice Queen' mask, then she felt that she could trust him.

"Get some sleep. We'll be going shopping tomorrow after breakfast.""Night Daffie."

"What have I said about calling me that?" lectured Daphne, but Astoria knew that she secretly liked the nickname.

Good night Tori.

"Daphne made her way back into her bedroom and climbed under the covers. Her mind was too busy processing everything that happened today to sleep. She sighed. Tomorrow was going to be a busy day, but she was happy. Happier than she had ever been before. Daphne's last thought before falling asleep was the feeling of Harry's lips pressed on hers."


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, as it belongs to J.K. Rowling

A/N: Published October 5, 2014

 **Chapter 3**

 **June 28, 1996**

Despite getting very little sleep, Daphne was up early the next morning anticipating an exciting day of shopping. Just in case they were going to leave at the end of the day, Daphne everything that she wanted to bring put into her trunk.

She tip toed into Astoria's room across the hall and gently woke her up. Daphne instructed for her to pack up her things as well. The two sisters hid their trunks at the back of their respective closets so that their parents would not suspect anything.

After a quick breakfast, they flooed to Davis Manor and met Tracey in her room. Fillings her in on the day's plans, Daphne summoned Winky, who apparated the Greengrass sisters to Harry's bedroom.

Daphne had told Astoria about Harry's life, but seeing it first hand was eye opening. Like many others, she had always assumed that Harry was well cared for outside of school. Taking a look around Astoria did not see Harry anywhere.

Daphne tapped on her shoulder and pointed towards the bed. Astoria struggled to hold in a giggle when she saw Harry sprawled of on top of his blankets. He was still wearing his robes from the day before. His glasses were crooked on his face and his limbs were at awkward angles. One arm was hanging off the side of the bed while his other was by his head. Harry was a sight to behold.

"Looks like he fell asleep pretty quickly. Yesterday was rather stressful for him," Daphne observed.

Astoria, being the prankster that's she was, walked over to Harry's side and cupped her hands around her mouth. Bending over to get closer to Harry's ear, she shouted, "RISE AND SHINE, SLEEPYHEAD!"

With a yelp, Harry flipped over the side of his bed and landed on the ground with a loud thump. While he was collecting himself, Daphne and Astoria were rolling on the floor laughing.

Harry tried to appear angry, but he was so happy to see Daphne that he quickly found himself grinning.

"Good morning." Harry leaned towards Daphne trying to capture her in a kiss.

Daphne pushed him away and wiggled a finger at him. "Not until you brush your teeth, mister!"

Harry made puppy dog eyes at her, but she refused to give in.

"Hello Astoria. Nice to finally meet you," Harry stuck out his hand.

Instead of taking his hand, Astoria pulled him into a hug. "Thanks for helping us." Daphne smiled at her sister and boyfriend.

Surprised by the gesture, Harry replied, "I'm helping you guys as much as I'm helping myself."

"You're going to get used to my hugs pretty quickly. After all, you're my future brother-in-law," said Astoria with a smirk.

Harry and Daphne both blushed deeply. Harry quickly made his way into the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face.

Getting back to his room, Harry summoned Dobby and Winky. They arrived with their customary pop.

"What can we's be helping Harry Potter sir with?" asked Dobby.

"Can you cast glamours on us again? I think the same as last time will be good. Can you make Astoria look like Daphne's disguise's sister?"

"Winky, could you also go fetch my makeup kit please?" added Daphne.

While Winky went to get Daphne's makeup, Dobby was starting to alter Harry's appearance. Like the day before, Harry was almost completely unrecognizable. When Dobby started working on Astoria's appearance, Winky arrived with Daphne's makeup kit and immediately started casting charms on Daphne. Since Astoria was finished first out of the two girls, she giggled and started applying makeup to Harry's scar.

"We'll have to buy some makeup for you later today and teach you how to put it on yourself," said Daphne.

Harry's response was just giving her a quick kiss on the lip.

Seeing how all three of them were ready to go, Harry asked Dobby and Winky to apparate them to the Leaky Cauldron. Once inside, they find a quiet booth in the corner to sit at.

Daphne and Astoria had already eaten breakfast at home, so they just ordered a butterbeer each while Harry quickly dug through an omelets and some bacon, washing it down with a glass of pumpkin juice.

"We need to be careful today, since we're going to go down Knockturn Alley," said Daphne.

"Why are we going there?" Astoria asked.

"To get the ministry tracking charms off of our wands and to buy some things that might not be legal. We need every advantage we can get."

"Plus, I'm thinking of having us all get new wands crafted. They'll be more in tune with our magic," Harry added.

Finishing breakfast, they opened the portal into Diagon Alley and quickly made their way to the goblin bank. Since it was still early, the lobby was mostly empty, and Harry was able to make his way directly to Griphook.

"Ahh Lord Potter. Would you like me to fetch Riptooth for you?" asked the goblin teller.

"Thanks Griphook, but that won't be necessary today. I was wondering if there was any way for me to directly withdraw money directly from my vault and to pay for large purchases in both the magical world and muggle world."

"Yes. I shall be right back with some items that you may want." replied Griphook.

During the exchange, Astoria was once again blown away by the way Harry treated other races. He had been extremely nice to his house elves, and now here he was, greeting a goblin by his name.

Daphne whispered in her ear, "You'll get used to it soon."

Griphook then returned with a few items and laid them on the counter.

"This is a wallet that you can withdraw up to one thousand galleons or five thousand pounds at a time. just think about what currency you want and state the amount," the goblin explained,laying an expensive looking leather wallet on the counter. "if you place a drop of blood on the wallet, it will be keyed so that only you can open it."

Harry out a dagger and sliced his finger, allowing a drop to fall onto the wallet. It emitted a flash of light and returned to normal.

"Could I have two more and have them keyed to Daphne and Astoria? And can the Potter crest be added on each of them with our initials underneath?"

Astoria tried to interrupt him, but Daphne put a hand on her shoulder. It was no use trying to stop Harry when he set his mind on something. It was one of the things that Daphne loved about him.

"Of course, sir."

With a snap of his fingers, Griphook changed the wallets to how Harry wanted. Moments later, the girls were keyed into and given a wallet each.

"Thanks. Can I schedule a time to get my magic blocks removed?"

"Come back in three days and we'll haves the ritual room ready for you."

"Once again, thank you for your time," said Harry with a bow.

The trio exited the bank around the same time as most stores were beginning to open.

"Let's go to Knockturn Alley first. It would be good if we got some new wands crafted first and the ministry tracking charms removed on our old phone.

Pulling up their hoods they entered the shady alley. Harry drew his wand, but kept it at his side. Daphne and Astoria did the same. After walking past a few stores, Daphne noticed a worn sign that said 'WandCrafters'. There was no window, so Harry gently opened the door and walked in, scanning for any threats.

"Hello?"

After a few bangs that came from deeper into the shop, a skinny old man came out.

"Come in. Come in," beckoned the old man. "You are here for wands, yes?"

After a nod, the wand crafter instructed them to make their way over to a storage room stocked with an exotic variety of wand parts. The left side was organized blocks of wood from almost every type of tree imaginable, while the right side had jars, boxes, and vails of wand cores. There were many that Harry knew were rare, and some that he did not even recognize. Directly front in front of him, along the far wall were shelves filled with gems of every imaginable color.

First, move your hand over the types of woods and pick out the wood that you feel a pull from."

Harry put his right hand over the first block of wood and felt nothing. He continued to try blocks, changing blocks every few seconds until he finally found a pitch black wood that just felt right. He didn't know how to describe the feeling, but he knew that his wand would be made with this wood.

"Interesting choice. That block of wood was harvested from a tree tree that was struck by lightning. I was only able to get enough of us wood to make one wand. Now do the same things with the wands cores. Try all of them because a wand can have multiple cores," said the old wand crafter.

Harry up with phoenix tears, basilisk venom, and a dragon heartstring from a Hungarian Hotmail, a wand of both light and dark.

Harry on to the gems. The wand crafter said that the gem would help channel magic. Harry felt the strongest pull towards an emerald that matched his eyes.

While the wand crafter was making Harry's wand, Daphne and Astoria picked their wand components.

Daphne chosen a willow wand with powdered basilisk fang, willingly given unicorn blood, and a unicorn tail hair with a sapphire germ.

Astoria's wand was perfect for her fiery personality. She had a holly wand with a dragon heartstring, powdered pixie wings, and dragon's blood. To top it off, she had chosen a flawless diamond.

The crafter returned fifteen minutes later with the three finished wands. Harry paid the 600 galleons.

"Can to remove the ministry tracking charms on our old wands?" asked Daphne.

"Sorry, that's illegal," the old man replied.

Daphne placed 50 galleons on the counter and repeated, "Can you remove the charms on our wands?"

The took their old wands and placed a silencing charm around himself. After casting a few spells on each wand, he returned the wands. The three teenagers checked to make sure that both their old and new wands worked.

As they were leaving, Daphne dropped another 50 galleons on the counter and said, "We were never here."

They went to a bookshop that sold many illegal titles. The three made their way through the shop picking up whatever they thought would be useful. They ended up with books on occlumency, legilimency, and every topic taught at Hogwarts. Harry thought the best finds was a book called _Spells that the Ministry Doesn't Want You to Know_. Inside was a spell to make portkeys and other spells that would be very useful.

Making their way back to Diagon Alley, Astoria noticed a store that seemed full of junk. Curious, they decided to see if they could find anything they liked. The shop gave off a spooky aura that had all three of them on their toes. Inside, everything was dusty, as nobody had been inside for years.

The three of them drifted apart, each searching for something that appealed to them. Astoria was the first to find something.

"Harry? Daphne? Can you take a look at this?" she asked from a few aisle away.

When they got there, they saw Astoria holding a set of beautifully crafted mirrors with a multitude of expensive jewels embedded into the handle.

Harry gasped. "I think I know what those are. My dad and Sirius had a pair of those, but more manly. They look like two-way mirrors. You can talk to and see the person holding the other mirror. Why don't you two try it?"

Astoria handed Daphne one of the mirrors. "Daphne?" she called, but nothing happened.

"I think you need to know the name of the other mirror," suggested Harry.

Looking for any indication of a name, Daphne looked all over to see if there were any words. She saw the name ' _Bella_ ' engraved in a loopy font on the back of the mirror handle.

"Tori, try saying 'Bella.'"

When Astoria tried the mirror again, she was greeted with a smiling Daphne. Looking on the handle of her own mirror, she saw the name ' _Andi_ '.

Harry was leaning over her shoulder and gasp when he saw the name. When Daphne and Astoria gave him questioning looks, he explained, "The only Bella and Andi I know are Bellatrix Lestrange and Andromeda Tonks. They were sisters, but Mrs. Tonks married a muggle-born and was cast out of the family. I never knew that they were close."

The girls nodded in understanding.

"I think I'll get the mirrors," stated Astoria.

Harry wandered back to where he was before Astoria's interruption. He caught sight of a small black box that looked completely bland and out of place in a shop filled with so many exotic objects. Cautiously, he used a wand and opened the lid. When he did not detect anything harmful, he looked at the objects inside of the box.

The box held ten ordinary rings. There were five men's rings and five women's rings. They all looked like what someone would wear for decoration. However, Harry noticed a slip of parchment inside of the box that had a list of the functions of the rings.

Harry was astonished by what the rings could do. They all could detect poisons or potions in food and drinks. The rings could also create a low level shield to absorb or weaken low-leveled hexes. Harry decided that he would take these and give them to the people that he trusted.

Suddenly, he was startled by a sudden yelp. Thinking something was wrong, he ran to where he heard the sound. He was greeted with the sight of Daphne covering her mouth with a hand with her eyes open in shock.

Harry came up behind her and pulled her into a hug. "Daph, what's wrong?"

She simply pointed at an object in front of her. Taking his eyes away from his beautiful girlfriend, Harry realized what she was looking at.

"Ahh. A pensive. I've was actually hoping to buy one today."

Daphne swatted him on the arm. "Not just any pensive. That's court pensive. Those are rarer than normal pensieves and are only legal for the Ministry to use."

"What's the difference?"

"They can project memories onto the surface and they can determine if a memory is real or fake."

"That's useful. Let's get it." Harry smiled.

Harry shrunk the pensive for Daphne and let her put it in her pocket. He slipped his hand into hers and they continued to look through the shop together. They found some knick knacks that they thought were interesting and shrunk them to buy.

"Harry?"

Harry turned around to see Astoria holding a muggle handgun.

"What's this? It looks like something muggles would use," asked the girl.

"It's a muggle weapon. It shoots bullets, which are metal balls, at really fast speeds and can kill people. I think you should get it and keep it with you. Bullets can go through magical shields that don't stop physical objects." Harry said.

He conjured a holster for her. As Astoria was putting the gun in its new holster, Harry said, "Please don't use it until you learn how to. It could really hurt someone."

Astoria nodded eagerly. She was glad to have something other than her wand to protect herself with.

Thinking they had had enough of the 'Junk Shop', as they called it, Harry found a counter and left 100 galleons on it. The trio made their way back to Diagon Alley, and they all shivered as they felt the coldness of the dark alley leave their bodies.

"Let's go to the trunk shop. I have a surprise for you two," announced Harry.

Exchanging curious looks, the two girls followed Harry down the road until they came upon the Mr. Smith's Magical Luggage. Harry walked in and found Mr. Smith sitting at a counter, reading the _Daily Prophet_.

"Excuse me, sir. I am looking to buy multi-compartment trunks. Could you please show me your choices?"

Mr. Smith stared at Harry critically for a few moments and glared. "I have no time for your childish pranks. There is no way that you can afford one of those trunks, so shoo!"

Harry glared at the man. "I'll be the judge of what I can or cannot pay for. So will you show me your selection of trunks or not?"

"Scram, kid!" Mr. Smith replied.

Daphne had had enough of the man's disrespect. "I guess we'll just have to tell the Wizarding World that you were disrespectful towards LORD POTTER-BLACK. C'mon Harry, we'll get your trunk somewhere else."

When Mr. Smith realized the implication of Daphne's words, he quickly paled.

"My apologies, Lord Potter-Black. I did not recognize you. I will take off a quarter of your bill."

Daphne smirked. "I'm sure that we can work out a suitable price."

The shop owner led Harry to a back room filled with expensive looking trunks. He took one off the shelf and laid it on the ground.

"Lord Potter, this is my best trunk. It has seven compartments. The first one is a normal storage compartment that is expanded to three times its size. It is only expanded slightly so that the trunk will appear normal to most people. The rest of the compartments are all part of an apartment. There is a living room, a master bedroom, a guest bedroom, an office, and two rooms of your choice."

Seeing Harry's interest, Mr. Smith continued, "The rooms are all furnished with a wood of your choice. Both bedrooms have full baths, but the master bath is much larger. I have installed a muggle Jacuzzi. The bedrooms also include a walk-in closet each. For the last two rooms, you can choose between an empty room, a dueling room, a potions lab, or a library."

Harry and the girls were intrigued and decided to take a look inside the trunk. Mr. Smith opened the trunk to its second compartment and had led them down a set of stairs into the living room. Although not huge, the room had magical skylights that imitated natural lighting. Overall, the apartment had a very comfortable feel.

Harry noticed that the living room had a fireplace, and decided that he was going to set up a private floo network amongst the trunks that he was going to buy. He was very glad that he had bought the book about getting around the Ministry.

This particular trunk had a library and potions lab, which Daphne fell in love with immediately. He also found that the library had shelves that could expand to hold more books. Harry thought that this would be very useful, since he was going to take the entire Black library.

When they all exited the trunk, Harry turned towards Mr. Smith.

"I'll take three of these trunks. One with a library and dueling room. One with a potions lab and empty room, and one with two empty rooms. I would like the initials H.P. on the first, D.G. on the second, and A.G. on the third."

Mr. Smith hastily scribbled this on a sheet of parchment.

"How much do I owe you?" asked Harry.

"That should be 37,500 galleons."

"Here's 40,000," said Harry. "I trust that nobody will hear of my visit?"

"Of course, Lord Potter!" said the shop owner with wide eyes.

"I'll pick up the trunks in three days time. I assume you will have it ready by then?"

"They will be ready."

Harry the three girls left the shop. Once outside, Astoria and Daphne started demanding answers about what had just happened.

"Why did you buy us those trunks?" asked Daphne.

"They will help us with training or if we go somewhere like my island and find out that it is uninhabitable. With the trunks, we can basically live anywhere we want to."

"Why does my trunk have two empty rooms?" Astoria demanded.

Harry chuckled, but the younger girl held her glare. "It won't matter. I plan on asking a private floor network between the trunks, so we're basically sharing all three together. The empty rooms will give us space to set up anything we want," Harry explained. "Besides, we can all sleep in one trunk."

Daphne blushed at what Harry was insinuating. Astoria simply giggled and gave Harry a hug.

"Take care of my sister," she whispered into Harry's ear. He simply nodded into her shoulder.

Next, they made their way to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. Here, Daphne and Astoria were in their environment. They already had plenty of clothes, so they dragged Harry off to get him fired with a multitude of robes of all varieties. Astoria had informed him that he needed to buy casual robes, formal robes, dress robes, lord robes, and Wizengamot robes. Harry didn't see the difference between formal and dress robes, but the girls insisted that they were different.

Daphne and Astoria pulled Harry into a fitting room and called Madam Malkin in over help pick out clothes.

Daphne stopped Madam Malkin outside of the fitting room.

"Madam, could you please take an oath not to reveal to anyone who is in this fitting room?"

The was reluctant to give an oath, but her curiosity got the best of her. After she gave the oath, Daphne led her inside the room where Harry was waiting.

Since Harry was in disguise, Madam Malkin was confused as to well the boy was.

"Dobby!" Daphne called. The small house elf arrived with a pop. "Can you please remove Harry's glamours?"

With snap of his fingers, Dobby returned Harry's appearance back to normal. Sending that his job was done, Dobby apparated away.

Madam Malkin gasped. She now understood why she was sworn to secrecy. It wouldn't do for the Boy-Who-Lived to be seen in Diagon Alley with only two friends with him.

Daphne explained to the woman that they needed a full wardrobe, along with Lord and Wizengamot robes. As the woman went to gather some robes to try, Astoria entered with both arms full of different robes, some were so flamboyant that Harry doubted that Fred and George would even wear them.

Harry spent the next two hours being a dress-up doll for the three ladies. Daphne thought that Harry looked best in emerald, since it matched his eyes. He was just happy to agree with everything.

When Harry was finally finished picking out clothes, he called Dobby to re-apply his glamour. They went over to the women's side of the store. As it was only a robe shop, the girls only picked out a set of silk robes each. Harry paid for the purchases and led the girls outside and to an out of the way place.

"Dobby!" he called.

Dobby appeared with a pop. "What cans Dobby do for Harry Potter, sir?"

"Are you able to find Potter Manor?"

Dobby nodded. "Dobby is bonded to Harry Potter. Dobby is feeling Master's family magic."

"Do you think that you could take Winky and clean up Potter Manor?"

"Dobby can do that, sir." said the house elf. Dobby apparated away to begin preparing Potter Manor.

When Dobby left, Harry noticed that the girls had already shrunk their bags.

"Does this mean that we're moving to Potter Manor tonight?" Astoria asked, her eyes shining with hope.

Harry smiled at her. "Yup!"

The younger girl flung herself at Harry and kissed him on the cheek. Daphne smiled at her sister. She was glad her sister and boyfriend were getting along so well. Daphne summoned Winky and told her to get her and Astoria's trunks from Greengrass Manor and take them to Potter Manor.

The group's next stop was the bookstore. The trio separated again to look for books that they wanted. Hay picked up more books on combat, while Daphne found some rare prongs texts. Astoria was on the other side of the store looking for some books for pranking.

Harry Astoria's choices and shook his head while chuckling.

"Tori, have you heard of the Marauders?" asked Harry.

Astoria an indignant look. "Of course I have!"

"Well my dad was Prongs, so I might have some of his old journals in my family vault."

Astoria's jaw dropped. "You're related to the Marauders?" Harry nodded. "We're going to have so much fun together!" she squealed.

After paid for their purchases, the trio headed back to Gringotts. Harry wanted to take a quick look in his vaults to see if there was anything he wanted to take with him. He figured that he could go through his vaults later.

Griphook led them to the mine carts and they made their way down to the deepest part of the bank. When they arrived at the vault, they could see two enormous dragons guarding a set of giant doors with the Potter crest. The doors looked as big as those into the Hogwarts great hall.

Griphook pulled out a set of clankers from inside the mine cart and shared shaking them. Immediately, the dragons started breaking up, allowing the four of them to pass.

"Lord Potter, please touch your hand to the crest."

Harry nodded and did just that. The was a sound of many metal bears moving. When the noise halted, the giant doors swung inward.

All three of the teens were astounded by the amount of gold in these vault. The two Greengrasses had been inside their family vault before, but this made their family look like paupers.

Most the vault was covered in a thick layer of dust. However, a part of the mountain of gold looked like it had been touched recently.

'Probably from people stealing my money,' Harry thought.

Astoria's eyes immediately caught sight of a trunk with the initials J.P. embedded on the side in gold.

"Harry take a look at this."

Harry was almost overwhelmed by the emotions that threatened to break. He was finally able to learn more about his parents. Remus and Sirius only mentioned them in passing, most likely because it was painful to talk about them. None of his teachers had ever told him much about his parents either.

He carefully opened the trunk as if it was made of glass. His father's trunk was filled with journals from when he was in school. Harry found a journal titled ' _A Marauder's Guide to Pranking_ ', and gave it to Astoria.

"Why don't you hold on to this. When we get time, we can read it together," he said.

Astoria took the journal carefully and stored it in her expanded backpack. When nobody was looking, Harry opened a small ring box that was inside of his father's trunk. Inside were his parents' wedding rings and his mother's engagement ring. He slipped the box into his pocket. He then shrunk his father's and mother's trunk, which Daphne had just found, and placed them in his backpack. He would go through them later.

Exiting the goblin bank, They decided to go window shopping until they were ready for lunch. Harry walked between Daphne and Astoria, holding Daphne's hand, enjoying his new-found freedom.

Astoria had always wanted to buy a dragon hide jacket, so they stopped by a small store that sold clothes of different hides.

"Hell. How can I help you today?" asked a sales associate.

"Do you have any dark red dragon hide jackets?" asked Astoria.

The man went to a rack and pulled out a jacket. "Here, this is made from the hide of a Chinese Fireball. It should be comfortable and can serve as protection.

This caught Harry's interest. "How does it protect you?"

"Since dragon hide is impervious or can weaken many spells. For example, a mid-powered stunner would mostly be absorbed and you would just feel like you were punched, but remain conscious."

Astoria tried on the jacket and immediately loved it. Seeing her sister's enthusiasm, Daphne also picked one, a deep green jacket made from the hide of a Welsh Green.

"Are there any materials that are even more resistant to spells than dragon hide?" asked Harry.

"Of course there's basilisk skin, but nobody's seen a basilisk in centuries." said the associate.

"If I could get you some basilisk skin, could you make armor with it?"

Shocked, the man replied, "Of course, but where would you get the skin?"

Harry smirked. "That's for me to know and you to find out."

Seeing the girls try on dragon hide boots, he thought that he would try them as well. Harry picked out a pair of black boots and tried them on. They immediately re-sized to his feet. Harry was shocked by how soft the boots were, and decided that he would get a pair too. Since he had an abundance of money, he didn't think it would hurt if he got a black dragon hide jacket either. Harry felt that it was ironic that the jacket he chose came from a Hungarian Horntail.

In the end, each teen had a jacket with matching boots, and a pair of black Hungarian Horntail boots each for the girls. They also got two wand holsters each. The total came up to 1,000 galleons, which Harry handed over like it was pocket change, which for him, it was.

They made one more stop at a jewelry store before getting lunch. Harry had insisted on buying the girls earrings to match their new jackets. They looked great on the girls, and Harry was rewarded with a kiss from Daphne and a hug from Tori.

"Let's eat lunch in muggle London," suggested Tori.

As left the muggle side of the Leaky Cauldron, Daphne and Astoria were shocked by the muggle city. They had never seen so many people before and had only seen pictures of cars in muggle studies. Since nobody knew Harry Potter in the muggle world, Harry called Dobby back to remove his glamour.

Walking a few blocks, they came across a pizza shop. "Are you lovely ladies up for some pizza before we go shopping in muggle London?" asked Harry.

"What's pizza?" they both said at the same time.

"You'll love it. I promise," said Harry. He directed them the pizza shop. Waking up to the counter, they saw the different types of pizzas.

They decided to get six different slices of pizza and share them all. Astoria giggled when Harry tried to eat a slice of pepperoni pizza and the toppings slipped off onto his lap. Making sure nobody was watching, Harry slipped out his wand and cast a cleaning spell.

The three of them all got a chance to try soda as well. It was a first for everyone because magical people didn't drink soda, and Harry was never allowed. At first, the drink made their noses burn, but they got to love it.

"I wish that we could have pizza and soda more often," said Daphne.

Harry gave her a kiss. "You can have as much as you want. We can just have Dobby go buy some or pick it up ourselves."

"AWWWWW! That's so sweet, Harry!" said Astoria in an exaggerated voice.

Harry's response was sticking out his tongue like a five year old, which made them all laugh.

"C'mon! Let's get shopping!" urge Astoria.

Harry paid the bill using his new wallet and they made their way outside. Harry had heard of a department store named Harrods, but didn't know how to get there, so he hailed a cab.

The Greengrass sisters had never been inside of a car before and were in awe the entire ride. They compared it to the Hogwarts horseless carriages, but much cooler. Harry explained to them that the carriages were actually pulled by thestrals, which was another shock to them.

The girls immediately loved the store. The first floor was entirely dedicated shoes, and they went crazy trying on every imaginable type of shoe. Harry only got two pairs of Nike trainers and two pairs of dress shoes. The girls, on the other hand, went all out. They each got trainers as well, along with other shoes of all different types.

Harry especially appreciated it when Daphne tried on stiletto heels for him. He thought that they were very attractive, and he couldn't help but admire how they made her butt stick out more.

Daphne noticed his reaction, and pulled him into a searing kiss. Daphne felt his excitement pressed against her stomach and gave him a smirk.

"I guess I'll get these heels since you like them so much." she said, causing Harry to blush even deeper.

When Harry went up to pay, the sales associate was skeptical that the teenager could even afford anything at the luxury department store.

"I just inherited a lot of money," he explained

When the clerk rang up his purchases, Harry pulled the amount out of his wallet. To his surprise, a white credit card with a gold G in the middle popped out. There were no numbers on the card, but his name was clearly written on the corner and the Potter crest was next to the G. Shrugging, he handed over the card to pay.

Going up a level, they found the men's section. Daphne immediately went to pick out a suit for Harry, since she thought that suits looked 'hot'.

"You're going to get at least three suits, and they're going to be skim fits, not bulky Ralph Laurens that old people like to wear," she said.

"Yes dear," Harry joked, which earned him a smack in the back of the head.

When Daphne went off to find another suit for him to try on, Astoria coughed, but it sounded like she was saying 'whipped'.

Half an hour later, Harry was finally able to escape the formal wear section. He found some jeans and t-shirts that he really liked. When Daphne and Astoria were both distracted, Harry quickly bought the boxer that he needed. He also bought a lot of fitness clothes for working out this summer. Daphne then reminded him to get swim trunks, since they were most likely going to visit his island sometime.

By now, all three of them were weighed down with different purchases. Making a quick stop to the bathroom, Harry called Dobby to take his stuff to the manor, while Daphne called Winky to take her and her sister's shoes as well.

The third floor, this time, was dedicated to women's clothes. Harry was content with sitting on a bench, giving the girls his opinion and holding all of their bags. Of course, seeing Daphne try on dress after dress was an eye opening experience that he would gladly repeat.

"Harry, what do you think of this?" asked Astoria.

Harry turned to see her standing in a very tight, blood red, mini dress. His jaw dropped, and stuttered, "U-uh. It's...great."

Astoria laughed at his reaction. "Thanks Harry," she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

Getting over the shock, Harry told her that she was beautiful.

"What about me?" demanded Daphne.

Harry froze. He didn't know what to do. He didn't want to hurt either one's feelings. To him, they were both beautiful, but Daphne was his girlfriend.

"You're beautiful too?"

Daphne glared. "Is that a question?"

"Uh...You see the thing is…" began Harry. He was cut off by both Daphne and Astoria rolling on the ground laughing.

"You- you should have- have seen your face!" said Daphne in between laughs.

Harry was embarrassed by his predicament, but couldn't help feel the humor of the situation as well, and gave a grin.

"I guess Tori isn't the only jokester in the family."

Daphne walked over and gave him a light kiss on his lips.

The girls' next stop was the lingerie section, which Harry sorely refused to enter. Just walking by brought a blush to his face.

"Harry, grow up. Just wait for us outside the fitting rooms," said Daphne.

"Besides, you're probably going to see Daphne wearing this anyway," added Astoria, which brought blushes to Harry and Daphne's faces.

"Ohh it's too easy get you guys riled up!" she exclaimed.

While the girls were trying on different lingerie, Harry kept his eyes focused on the his lap, while he waited on a bench.

Thirty minutes later, to Harry's relief, they finally moved on. The two sisters each bought a lot of muggle clothes, both casual and for fitness. Harry especially liked Daphne's skinny jeans and work-out shorts. They made her legs go on for miles.

Paying for the girls' purchases, they made their way back to the first floor. Thinking that they were done, Harry headed for the exit, but was pulled back by Astoria.

"Where do you think you're going, mister?" she admonished.

"We already bought shoes…"

Daphne laughed. "Now that we got new dresses, we have to get matching shoes and purses."

Harry groaned. An hour later, when the sun was beginning to set, they finally finished up with their shopping. In an alleyway, they called the house elves to take their purchases back to the manor, but only Winky showed up.

"How's the manor looking?" Harry asked.

"Winky is making Harry Potter's home ready for Master and Mistresses," announced Winky.

"Thanks Winky. You don't have to cook tonight. We'll pick up some Chinese take-out."

Winky nodded. "Dobby is putting Master and Mistress Daffie's shopping in the master suite and Miss Tori's in a family suite. Yous's clothes is all in closets."

"Can you pass along my thanks to Dobby? And please don't call me master or the girls mistress. I think just our names will do."

Winky nodded and apparated away with their purchases.

"Let's watch a movie before we get dinner," suggested Harry.

"What's a movie," asked Daphne.

Harry took her hand and intertwined their fingers. "You'll love it."

They took another cab back to near Charing Cross Road, where there was a theater nearby. Since none of them knew which movie was good, they just followed the people in front of them and saw Happy Gilmore.

All three of them absolutely loved it and wanted to watch another movie, but Astoria's stomach gave a grumble.

Laughing, Harry said, "Why don't we get some Chinese food nearby and take it back to the manor?"

After getting cartons of Chinese food, both girls grabbed hold of Harry while he tapped his wand to his head of house ring and spoke clearly, "Potter Manor".

Thankfully, Daphne was holding the food because Harry immediately fell onto his back, and Astoria landed on top of him.

Daphne laughed, while the two on the ground grumbled.

"Was that your first portkey?"

"No," Harry replied. "We took one to the World Cup."

"The trick is to bend your knees a little to absorb the impact," explained Daphne.

"Now why didn't anyone tell me that earlier?" exclaimed Harry, throwing up his hands. Daphne just giggled back.

With a pop, Dobby appeared before them. "Welcome home Harry Potter and his Greenies."

"Can you take us to a living room?" asked Harry.

In the living room, Harry put the Chinese food on the coffee table and handed it out and took a seat on the ground. Daphne and Astoria were surprised to be eating while sitting on the ground, but found it refreshing to not be sitting stiffly at a dining table.

After dinner, Winky showed them to their rooms.

Astoria loved her room. It was much bigger than her old room, but she felt right at home. In fact, everything about Potter Manor felt right.

Harry and Daphne blushed when Winky led them both to the master suite. The inside was enormous. Just the bedroom itself was larger than the entire first floor of the Dursley's, which reminded Harry that he left his stuff there.

"Winky, I think we're fine now. Could you fetch my stuff from the Dursley's? After that, you can take off for the rest of the night. We've had a long day, and we'll be going to bed soon."

Winky nodded and apparated away.

While Daphne showed and changed, Harry explored more of the suite. He found that his walk-in closet was only half full, even with all of his purchases today. In a corner were many cardboard boxes that Harry found to contain his father's clothes. Not wanting to invade Daphne's privacy, he did not go into her closet.

Daphne stepped out of the bathroom in a silk camisole and shorts, that did not leave very much to imagination. She found Harry and told him that she was going to talk to Astoria for a bit, leaving him staring blankly with his mouth watering.

After Harry got ready for bed in a pair of brand new, silk, emerald-colored pajamas, he found Daphne fast asleep in bed. Quietly he climbed in the other side of the bed, careful not to touch Daphne. Soon, he was fast asleep as well.


	4. Chapter 4

**June 29, 1996**

Daphne woke up early the next morning was blinded by the sunlight coming through the window. Blinking a few times, she vision adjusted to the sudden brightness.

She saw that Harry was still asleep, so she quietly skid out of bed. Daphne wanted to talk to Astoria more about what they were going to do. She doubted that they could go back to Hogwarts, since her father would take control of her immediately.

Daphne quietly opened the bedroom door and made her way to Astoria's room. Stepping inside, she saw that her sister was already awake, but lost in thought. Daphne climbed into the bed with her and say next to her.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked.

Astoria sighed. "Just about how so much has chance in just a couple of days."

"I know. Do you think that me and Harry are moving too fast? I mean, we just started officially dating three days ago."

"It's your relationship. As long as you're happy, who cares?"

Daphne smiled. "Mhmm. I suppose it seems like we're moving really fast, but I've fancied him for years. I think we were both avoiding in because we were scared of breaking our friendship."

Astoria was just glad that her sister had finally found someone to be with.

"C'mon. Let's go wake Harry up."

Astoria followed her sister into the master bedroom. She was in awe at the grandeur. In the middle of the bed, she saw Harry laying, sprawled out with his mouth hanging open. Taking out her wand, she conjured a bucket of ice water over Harry's head and let it top over.

Harry's eyes snapped open as he was bathed in the freezing water. He glared at Astoria and chased after her while Daphne was giggling at their antics. Harry was able grab Astoria and throw her on the bed, tickling her stomach, making her giggle uncontrollably.

When the three of them calmed down, Daphne dried the sheets with a wave of her wand, and the two sisters went to start breakfast while Harry got dressed.

Daphne and Astoria arrived in the kitchen and found that the house elves had already laid out a large variety of pastries and juices. They quickly loaded a plate each and sat down to eat. When Harry got downstairs, both girls' jaws dropped. It seemed that his new clothes fit him really well.

Harry smirked to himself and sat down to eat across from the girls.

"So...What are we going to do today?" asked Astoria.

Harry waited until she took a sip of pumpkin juice before answering. "I was thinking we could go visit the Chamber of Secrets."

Astoria promptly shot out the juice in her mouth. "Slytherin's chamber?"

Harry grinned. He had told Daphne his plan the night before, so she just laughed at Astoria and cleaned up her mess.

After finishing breakfast, they grabbed their dragon hide gloves and had Dobby apparate them to the girls bathroom on the second floor.

Daphne was surprised by the abilities of house elves. They were constantly overlooked because wizards thought that they were only good for being household slaves.

"Dobby, how are you able to get through Hogwarts's wards?" she asked.

"We elves is having different magic from wizards. The Hogwarts have no house right wards, but Snake Chamber have."

"Oh. So Harry, what are we doing in a girls bathroom?" Astoria inquired.

"This is the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets."

Both the girls laughed. Harry gave them a confused look.

"Sorry," said Daphne. "It's just that nobody would ever guess that Slytherin would build his secret chamber in a girls bathroom."

Harry chucked and turned to examine the sinks, searching for the one with a snake etched onto one of the taps.

" _Open,_ " he hissed in parseltongue. The sink moved to expose a massive opening in the floor.

"What now?" asked Astoria.

"We jump. Or at least that's what Ron and I did last time."

"There is no way that the great Salazar Slytherin jumped down a pipe to reach his chamber." said Daphne.

Harry looked at her blankly.

"Try saying something in parseltongue," said Daphne. "Try stairs."

"Stairs."

"That was in English."

Harry focused on imagining a snake in his mind. " _Stairs_."

To Harry's surprise, a narrow set of steps appeared in the pipe, leading into the darkness.

" _Lights_." Nothing happened.

"What did you try?" asked Astoria.

"Lights."

Daphne shook her head. "Wizards don't have lights, and there were definitely no lights when Salazar Slytherin built his chamber. Try ' _torches_.'"

When Harry tried the command, a sets of torches appeared on either side of the staircase.

Harry, Daphne and Astoria made their way down into the chamber. After a short walk, they came upon the giant snake skin. The girls were amazed at how big the skin was, but Harry only thought that it looked a lot bigger when he was twelve.

At the place where the path was caved in, Harry, Daphne and Astoria collectively vanished the rubble and walked until they reached the entrance to the chamber itself. Harry stepped up to the wall with the stone snakes and hissed the password, finally exposing the Chamber of Secrets.

The girls saw the giant basilisk and paled immediately. They couldn't imagine having to fight it like Harry had done.

Harry gave each of them a hug and grabbed one of their hands each. He led them closer to the snake. On the ground, he saw a patch of dried blood, which he knew was his. The fang that he used to stab the diary was also laying on the ground.

"Dobby, is there a way to harvest the basilisk and bring it out with us?"

Dobby had been silently following them the entire way, in case they needed anything. Harry would have been unable to call him from inside the chamber. "Dobby is not knowing, sir. Snake Chamber have snake wards.

"Is this the entire Chamber of Secrets? There has to be something hidden here."

Harry turned to Astoria. "I've never thought about that. The basilisk came out of the statue of Slytherin, so there might be something behind the statue."

He then faced the statue and hissed, " _Speak to me, Slytherin, greatest of the Hogwarts Four_."

There was a groaning sound and the mouth of the statue opened up. Shrugging, Harry led the girls into the statue. They found themselves in a pipe, which eventually split into two. Daphne thought it would be safer if they stayed together, so they turned left and continued down the pipe. They found themselves in a large chamber filled with animal bones and dead snake skin.

"This must have been where the snake was staying," Astoria observed.

The trio turned around found themselves back at the intersection. This time, they went the other way and found a lavish set of doors. Harry hissed at the doors and they swung open, revealing a very regal-looking living room that was decorated in green and silver. There was a layer of dust over everything, and it took a good fifteen minutes, with Dobby's help, to vanish all the dust.

There were many doors on the other side of the room that Harry wanted to check out. The first door they opened led to a large bedroom that was even bigger than Harry's at Potter Manor.

Through the next door was a fully stocked potions lab. Daphne's eyes lit up at the rare potions ingredients that lined the wall. They all seemed to be under stasis charms. Daphne also seemed awed by the different cauldrons that were set up. Harry couldn't tell a difference other than color, but he took Daphne's word for it when she said that these were very expensive. Harry knew that there was an impressive potions lab at Potter Manor and was determined to bring all of this back for Daphne.

Astoria pushed open a door that had two crossed swords engraved on it. What greeted her eyes was a room full of every weapon that she could imagine. There were blades of every length and many suits of armor that most likely belong to Salazar Slytherin. What caught Astoria's eyes were a pair of short swords that had beautiful emeralds encrusted into the hilt. The picked them up and swung them around, amazed at how balanced the swords felt to her.

While the others were still looking through the previous few rooms, Harry found his way into Salazar's private study. Inside, he found a notebook about the chamber itself, and what charms were used to build it. What Harry found interesting was that Slytherin used a branch of magic called Parselmagic to craft the wards so that only one who could speak the language of snakes could get in and out. Harry was relieved that Voldemort probably didn't find these rooms in the Chamber, since there was so much dust. He wondered if Parselmagic was the power that Voldemort did not have. The notebook also said that portkeys could work through the wards only if the activation phrase was in parseltongue. To get the things he wanted out of the chamber, all he had to do now was figure out how to make a portkey.

Harry mused out loud, "If only I had read the book on making portkeys…"

"Harry Potter. Dobby is knowing how to make portkey, sir."

Surprised, Harry asked, "Where did you learn how to do that?"

"Dobby is seeing Master Lucy make portkey many times."

"Could you show me how to make one?"

"Harry Potter is needing to think of destination and password and tapping portkey with wand and say 'Portus.'"

"Thanks. Dobby. I'll make a portkey to the Shrieking Shack and another one back. I'll call Winky to come to the shack so that we can send stuff there and she can bring it back to the Manor. While I'm doing that, can you tell Daphne and Astoria to conjure crates and pack up what they want?"

Dobby nodded in understanding.

Harry then found a few random objects and made two portkeys; one to the shack and one back. Hissing " _activate_ ", he found himself landing on his butt in the Shrieking Shack.

"Winky" he called out, picking himself up.

With a pop. Winky appeared at Harry's side. "What can Winky be helping sir with?"

"I was just in the Chamber of Secrets with the girls and Dobby. We're going to be porkeying some things here. Could you bring them back to the Manor?"

Winky nodded.

"Thanks." Harry activated his portkey back and collapsed into Salazar Slytherin's living room. He found the girls standing next to him giggling. Daphne helped him up and patted some of the dirt off of his shirt.

"I just shrunk all the cauldrons and packed up all the potions ingredients. I figured it wouldn't matter if we had extras anyway," she said.

"Me too. I just packed up everything," added Astoria.

Harry laughed. He made a few more portkeys and sent the crates that Daphne and Astoria conjured to the Shrieking Shack.

There was nothing else that was really useful in the study, so they all went into the last room, which happened to be a library. This excited Daphne and Astoria even more because some of these books were written by the founders themselves. There was so much lost knowledge in this one room.

Since they were all hungry, they decided to just pack all of the books and bring them back to the manor with them. With Dobby's help, the shrunk the entire shelves with books and portkeyed them to the shack. Astoria suggested doing this so that the books would stay organized. Then, Harry made another portkey for them to all go to the shack.

Dobby apparated them all back to Potter Manor, where they ate a light lunch. Since they did not see much of the manor the day before, Dobby and Winky showed them around. They found that Winky had stored all of the stuff from the Chamber of Secrets in their appropriate rooms. She set up a temporary library in an empty room, since there was not enough room in the Potter library.

Now that they were finally set up, Harry finally decided that he needed to start training, and he wanted the girls to learn how to defend themselves as well. He sat down in his new study and began to write out what he was going to study.

Every day was going to begin with a workout. After breakfast, he would study new combat spells in the library and then practice them until lunch. Harry then figured that he would do charms, transfiguration, or potions depending on what day it was. After that, he gave himself an hour of break, which he was most likely going to spend going through his parents' trunks. After that, he decided that he would start learning Runes and Arithmancy, switching subjects each day. Harry knew that he also needed to learn how to act like a lord, so he was going to ask Daphne and Astoria if they could teach him how to act his part. He wanted to end every day by spending some quality time with the girls, getting to know each other better.

Finishing up the list, Harry went to show Daphne what he came up with. He ran into Astoria, who was interested in learning as well, so they all sat down to talk about the training schedule.

"Do I get to train with you guys?" asked Astoria.

"Would you listen to me if I said 'no'?" replied Harry

"No!"

"Then yes, you can train with us."

Astoria smiled and gave him a hug.

"We can't do this all on our own. We need to find an adult that we can trust to teach us all the spells," reasoned Daphne.

"I want to trust Remus, Professor Lupin, but I don't know who he's loyal to. Dumbledore has done so much for him. It'll be hard to convince him."

"You might be surprised if you talk to him..."

"Okay, but how do we get to meet with him without him getting a chance to tell the old man?"

"Why don't we just kidnap him?" suggested Astoria. Daphne just started at her like she was crazy.

"That's brilliant!" Harry exclaimed. "We'll just send him a portkey that activates automatically."

"Where do you want to set up the meeting? We shouldn't let him know where we're staying."

"How about the Shrieking Shack?"

"Sure. That reminds me. I need to check the wards and update who is allowed."

Harry called for Dobby. The elf poked in and led them to the fireplace in these entrance hall. On the mantle was a leather-bound notebook with these Potter crest on the front.

"This is the ward book, sir. only Lord and Lady Potter is being able to change. You is needing to say what sir wishes and wards will change. Ward book is showing all wards and purposes," Dobby explained.

"Thanks Dobby." Dobby popped away. "I Harry James Potter, Lord of House Potter, add Daphne and Astoria Greengrass and remove all others from accessing this estate."

The was a brief pulse of magic as the wards adapted to the command.

"Oh, I'll need to write a letter to Riptooth about having the goblins help harvest the basilisk."

"Let's figure out how we're going to be training before we get off task," said Daphne.

Astoria giggled as Harry stuck his tongue out at Daphne, who in turn smacked him on the back of his head.

They hashed out their plan for the summer, and Harry went off to his office to write a letter to Gringotts about harvesting the basilisk. He also wanted to make sure that he had as much time as possible before the Order found out that he was gone. Harry summoned Dobby to find out.

"How can Dobby be helping Harry Potter, sir?"

"Do you know if the order knows if I'm gone yet?"

"Old man not knowing you is not at bad uncle house."

Harry nodded. "I'm supposed to send a letter every three days so that they know I'm okay. Do you think that you could do that from the Dursley's for me?"

"Dobby can do this."

"Thanks Dobby. Also, please send this to Gringotts," said Harry, handing Dobby an envelope.

When Dobby was gone, Harry summoned Kreacher. With a loud pop, the disgruntled elf appeared.

"What is filthy half-blood master wanting with Kreacher?"

Harry was still angry at the elf for lying about Sirius. "Kreacher. You will respect everyone who lives at Potter Manor. You will not lie to anyone. You will go back to Grimmauld Place and you will tell me when an Order meeting occurs and what they talk about," he commanded.

Kreacher apparated away. Harry knew that his orders would be followed because Kreacher was bound to him. He didn't like treating him this way, but he had no choice.

Harry went downstairs in search for the girls. He ran into Winky in the kitchen.

"Winky, do you know where the girls are?"

"Mistresses are by the pool."

"Thanks."

Harry went out the back door and walked to the outdoor pool. He found Daphne laying on a lounge chair, tanning on her stomach, while Astoria was jumping off the diving board. Walking towards Daphne, he was practically drooling at the round shape of her bum.

"Hey," he said, sitting next to her.

Daphne flipped over and looked at him. "Why don't you get changed and join us in the pool?"

Harry, who had been struggling to keep his eyes off of her chest, blushed. "Huh?" he asked.

She giggled. Go get changed and we can go for a swim. "Um…icantswim," he said quickly.

Daphne gave him a confused look.

He repeated. "I can't swim. My relatives never let me go swimming." He turned away embarrassed.

Daphne gave him a hug and said, "It's okay. We'll teach you. You'll get the childhood that you missed out on."

Harry hugged her and smiled. "I'll be right back."

He practically sprinted upstairs into his room and changed into a pair of green swim trunks that he had bought yesterday. Getting back to the pool, he saw that Daphne was now wading around in the shallow end of the pool.

Harry slowly stepped down a set of steps into the pool. He was glad that his feet were able to touch the bottom. Daphne was facing away from him and had not noticed him yet. Harry snuck behind her tapped her on the shoulder, When Daphne turned around, he splashed her, getting her hair soaked. She shrieked and splashed him back.

Astoria saw the fun and swam over, joining the water fight. A good ten minutes later, they were all thoroughly soaked, but laughing.

Daphne and Astoria spent the next hour teaching Harry how to swim. At first, it was very difficult for him. He tried kicking his legs and moving his arms, but he went nowhere. He was simply kicking up water. Eventually, Harry figured out that he just had to think about pulling and pushing the water. He could now swim around, but he was nowhere near as skilled as the girls were.

Now that he knew how to swim, he decided that they should have some fun. He thought that the pool was missing a water slide. Harry hopped out of the pool and went to grab his wand that was laying on a table nearby.

"What are you doing?" asked Astoria.

"Just watch."

Harry didn't know how to transfigure a water slide, but he knew that magic was mostly about intent. He first conjured a large boulder. Then he closed his eyes and imagined a tall slide that curved, along with a ladder to climb to the top.

He pushed his magic through his wand and jabbed it towards the boulder. Opening his eyes, he was greeted by a shiny, blue, water slide. Astoria squealed and climbed up the ladder.

"Weeee!" she screamed while sliding down, falling into the water with a splash.

Seeing her sister's fun, Daphne climbed up and slid down as well, giggling the entire way.

When Harry got to the bottom, both girls splashed him hard in the face. In retaliation, Harry ducked under water and came up beneath Astoria, throwing her in the air, and making her fall with a splash. He then turned to Daphne, who was at the moment climbing out of the pool. Harry chased her up the ladder and they slid down together, Harry behind her holding her waist.

They spent the rest of the afternoon lounging beside the pool in their swimwear. Astoria was reading the Marauder's book and waving her wand around while Daphne was reading one of Lily Potter's notebooks on runes. Harry was just laying there, enjoying the feeling of happiness.

He had not even realized that he had fallen asleep until he found himself being shaken awake by an excited Daphne.

"Harry! Your mom's a genius!"

"Whaa?"

"Look at this!" she said, shoving a journal in his face. "She figured out how to make elekticity run on ambient magic!"

"Electricity," Harry mindlessly corrected. He thought about all of the things that he could use with electricity. He could get them each cell phones. He could get lamps for the house, instead of resorting to candles.

"Can you figure out how to do it?" he asked.

"It should be all here. I just need something to try it on."

"Why don't we go get some stuff in two days, when we have to go to Gringotts anyway?"

Just as he was saying this, a regal looking owl arrived, carrying an envelope with the Gringotts seal. He read the letter aloud so that both Daphne and Astoria could hear.

"So the goblins are willing to help you harvest it if you agree to pay them 500,000 galleons and a quarter of the meat?" summarized Astoria.

Harry nodded.

Daphne said, "I think you should take it. Basilisk parts are so rare that it'll be worth millions. You'll still make a huge profit."

"Actually, I was thinking we would keep everything. We already have enough money, and you can use the parts for potions ingredients," Harry said.

Daphne gave him a kiss on the cheek. "For that, the first potion I will make will be to correct your vision."

"You can do that?"

She nodded. "The potion needs basilisk venom. It was in one of Slytherin's books."

The three of them went inside to change. Before separating, Harry said, "Let's go out for dinner. I'm sure we can find a nice Italian restaurant in muggle London. You can invite a friend or two that you trust completely."

Daphne and Astoria smiled and went up to change. After getting dressed in a pair of jean shorts and a t-shirt, Daphne called Winky to tell Tracey to meet her at the floo. Dobby was helping Astoria get in touch with her friend Eleanor Madley, a half-blood in Ravenclaw.

Tracey and Eleanor both agreed to meet up across the street from the Leaky Cauldron at six. They were all ready by five-thirty, but had nothing to do, so the three of them went over early. Harry followed them around as they looked through a few stores, not really buying anything.

At almost six, both of them showed up, and were easily spotted. Tracey recognized Eleanor as Astoria's friend and made her way over to the younger girl.

"Are you here for Astoria?" she asked.

Eleanor nodded. "She said something about going out for dinner with a friend."

Tracey had some idea who was going to be here, but she kept it to herself.

"Tracey! Ellie!"

The two girls turned around and saw three strangers making their way over. Eleanor was confused. Tracey thought to herself, " _Must be in disguise._ "

Astoria leaned into Eleanor's eat and whispered, "It's me, Tori. We'll explain in a bit."

Harry led them to the underground, which was another exciting experience for the two pure blood Greengrass girls. Harry knew his way around a bit from when he stayed at the Leaky Cauldron before third year.

Exiting the train station, Harry pulled all of them into an alley, where he removed their glamours.

Eleanor gasped when Harry's identity was revealed.

"Let's get to the restaurant. We can put up privacy wards so that we can talk freely."

The four girls followed Harry into a nice looking Italian restaurant where they were led to a booth.

After ordering drinks, Harry set up privacy and alarm wards for when the waiter came by.

"What's going on? And why are you going around in disguise with Harry Potter?" demanded Eleanor.

"Ellie, please listen to what we have to say," pleased Astoria.

They then went on to explain how Lord Greengrass had officially joined the Death Eaters and how the three of them had run away.

"So where are you staying now?"

"Potter Manor. Make sure you don't tell anyone. "

"That reminds me. Here take these. They should protect your minds from any mental attacks," said Harry, handing them each a ring.

"Will we be able to visit?" asked Tracey.

"Of course. Since the girls trust to, so do I," said Harry. "We can also get a new owl. Mine's to recognizable."

After dinner, they all made their way back to Charing Cross, where they all flood home.

Harry was that last through, and started to fall before he felt a pair of soft hands grab hold of him. He turned around and was greeted with a smiling Daphne. He kissed her cheek and led her and Astoria to the living room. He got out a couple of board games that he found and soon they were having a great time. By the time they wanted to call it a night, they were all too tired to go up to their rooms. Daphne curled up next to Harry on a sofa while Astoria yawned from another one. Within minutes, they were all asleep.

 **June 30, 1996**

The next morning found Harry in the kitchen cooking up a storm. The girls walked in with sleep still in their eyes, but immediately perked up at the smell of breakfast. Harry laid out omelets, toast, bacon, and juice.

An hour later, Harry was in disguise, walking into Gringotts. He had left the girls at a stationery store. Her had introduced them to pencils, pens, and paper.

Spotting Griphook, Harry made his way over to the goblin.

"Good morning, Griphook."

"Good morning, Lord Potter. Are you here about hiring Gringotts to harvest your basilisk?"

Harry nodded.

"Do you agree with the terms outlined?"

He nodded again.

"Good. Follow me."

Griphook led him through many corridors until they reached are very lavish set of doors. On the plaque next to there's door said, ' _Ragnok, Bank Manager_ '.

Harry entered the office to see a large goblin sitting at a very exquisite, and probably very expensive desk. He bowed to the goblin and was instructed to sit.

"I hear that you wish for us to help you harvest your basilisk and have agreed to our demands."

"Yes."

"Lord Potter. Tell me. Where does this basilisk of yours lie?"

"In the Chamber of Secrets, sir."

Momentarily, Ragnok was astonished, but he quickly schooled his expression. "And how are we going to access the chamber."

"The chamber can be accessed by portkey if these password is in parseltongue. I can activate the portkey and go and retrieve them when they are done."

"That won't be necessary, Lord Potter," Ragnok said, pulling open a drawer and taking out a crystal. "This is a recording crystal. When the crystal turns blue, please say the password."

Harry nodded. Ragnok then placed a finger on top of the crystal. The crystal glowed a deep blue, and Harry hissed the portkey activation phrase. He then took out his wand and conjured two ropes, one red and one green. He turned the green one into a portkey there and the red one into a portkey back. Ragnok had given him the coordinates for Gringotts's private portkey location.

An hour later, Harry exited the bank and made his way to the stationary store. He was almost at the store when he heard someone shout his name. He turned around to see a disguised Astoria beckoning him towards a bookstore.

Inside, he found Daphne sifting through romance novels while Astoria was busy picking out comic books.

"You know, if you wanted to, you could just buy them all…" he said to Astoria.

"I really like the X-Men series. You don't think it's too much?"

Harry shook his head. "I've got more money than I know what to do with."

Astoria gave him a hug and went up to purchase all of the X-Men comic books. The shopkeeper's jaw dropped when he saw how many books she was buying.

Harry went up behind Daphne and looked at her selections. He wrinkled his nose when he read a few of the summaries.

Daphne laughed. "Boys…"

"Hey!" Harry said, indignantly, but ended up chuckling.

Daphne went up aid paid for the books, and they all left the store and found a nearby coffee shop.

"So what do you want to do until lunch?" asked Daphne.

Harry's face darkened. "I think we should stop by the twins' shop. I need to ask them about Mrs. Weasley, Ron, and the marriage contract."

Although none of them were looking forward to the coming meeting, they were all excited to see the new joke shop. Daphne wasn't a huge prankster like her sister and boyfriend, but she still liked to play a joke every so often. She just never had the opportunity to because she had to keep up her 'Ice Queen' mask.

The trio made their way back to Diagon Alley and found themselves walking towards the brightest and most flamboyantly painted shop in the alley.

"Welcome to..."

"Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes."

"That is Gred..."

"And this is Forge."

"Welcome to..."

"Our humble abode."

Harry saw the twins on either side of the doorway. He looked around and saw many children running around trying different products. The shop was completely different from the rest of the alley. Harry saw an attractive girl working ringing up people's purchases.

Leaning towards Fred, he whispered, "I need to talk to the both of you in private."

The redhead have him a confused look. "Sir, that's a very unusual request."

Harry whispered, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

Fred immediately perked up. "Right this way, sir," he said, leading him and a confused George to the back of the shop. While Harry went to take care of things, Daphne and Astoria explored the new shop.

Fred pushed open a curtain to reveal the private part of the shop. He led them into an office and put up silencing spells. When the room was secure, Harry dropped his glamour.

"Harry!"

"Old boy!"

"Shouldn't you be at..."

"Your muggle relatives?"

Harry gave them each a manly hug. "It's good to see you guys. I left my relatives. I need to take my life into my own hands."

"So what brings you to our shop?"

"I visited Gringotts a few days ago and found some very shocking things. Tell me. Did you know that your mother and Ron have been stealing money from my vault?"

The twins paled. "Are you sure?" asked George.

"Positive."

"We don't know anything about this, and dad would never have let it happen if he was aware. We'll talk to him about it."

"Thanks. Also, I found a fake marriage contract to Ginny in my vault that was signed by Dumbledore and your mum. Can you find out if Ginny was in on the plan?"

"Yeah. Anything else we can do for you?"

"Actually I have a few things. Can you not mention anything to your mum and Ron? I don't want to give them or Dumbledore any heads up before I hammer them at the next Wizengamot session. Hermione was in on the stealing too."

The twins nodded quietly. They didn't want to believe that their family had been stealing from Harry, but they trusted Harry enough to know that he wouldn't lie about something like this.

"Also, I'm going to be training to fight the Death Eaters, so I was wondering if you guys could develop some things that would be useful in fights. I'll give you more money to hire workers so that you have more time to invent."

This brought a grin to the twins' faces.

"We have just the thing for you."

The twins opened a door to a large closet. "This is our defense line of products."

"We have Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder, which takes away all light. Not even 'lumos' will work."

"Next up, we have our minor shielding cloaks, which block out minor hexes and reduce medium level curses."

"Finally, we have our unfinished grenades. Katie told us about muggle grenades, and we're working on making grenades with wide area spells."

Harry was impressed. Although he didn't need any of the shielding cloaks, he felt that the darkness powder would be useful.

After Harry re-applied his glamour, the three of them made their way back into the main portion of the shop. Harry saw Daphne and Astoria at the counter and made his way over to them.

"You've been holding out on us…"

"Harry boy. Who are these…"

"Lovely ladies accompanying you today?"

Astoria giggled at the twins. She had always found their pranks hilarious. She was looking forward to getting to know them.

Harry just leaned in to whisper, "Floo over to Potter Manor on Thursday morning. We'll talk more."

Since it was still mid-morning, Harry decided that they should all go out and have some fun. They flooed back home from the Leaky Cauldron and all changed into some casual clothes. Harry grabbed a bag and told them all to put their swimsuits in it. The girls didn't know what he was up to, but trusted him enough to do what he said. To avoid any awkwardness, Harry changed in his walk-in closet, while Daphne changed in the bathroom.

"Where are we going?" Daphne asked.

"It's a surprise. I want to invite Neville though."

Harry asked Dobby to find Neville to see if he wanted to come. While Dobby was away, Harry updated the wards list to include Tracey, Ellie, the twins, and Neville.

Fifteen minutes later, Neville arrived through the floo. Harry gave a brief explanation as to what had happened over the past few days. Neville promised to come over on Thursday so he could tell them all everything. Harry didn't know Neville very well, but he felt that he could trust the boy.

Neville was introduced to Daphne and Astoria, and Harry was glad that they all got along. He was glad that Neville didn't immediately distrust them because they were in Slytherin.

Harry pulled out a piece of rope that he had turned into a portkey. Dobby had found his destination for him and told him the coordinates.

"Everybody grab hold."

"Where are we going?" asked Neville.

Harry smirked. "You'll see."

They arrived behind a building next to a parking lot. Stepping out of the shadows, they all saw giant metal structures extending high into the sky.

"It's called an amusement park," Harry explained. "There's tons of rides and games. There's also a water park."

Harry had never been allowed to go to an amusement park before, so he was also experiencing this for the first time. He bought them all tickets and they entered the park. There were children running everywhere and loud music was playing from every direction. Harry got them in line for a roller coaster.

Harry and Astoria were bouncing with excitement. Daphne was just smiling. She was not an adrenaline junkie, but she did enjoy trying new things. She liked flying around on a nice broom, but she had no intentions of playing Quidditch. Still, she loved watching Harry play.

Neville had always been rather reserved, and was deathly pale at the thought of riding the roller coaster.

The entire ride, Neville was clutching his harness tightly, his knuckles turning white. Harry and the girls were screaming the entire time.

At the end, they all felt like the ride was too short, and immediately got in line for another roller coaster. Surprisingly enough, was the one that suggested that they should sit in the front. Turns out, he actually enjoyed the speed.

' _Too bad he fell his first time on a broom_ ,' thought Harry. ' _He could have even been a Quidditch player._ '

They spent the rest of the morning on roller coasters, usually Harry sitting next to Daphne, while Neville was with Astoria.

After a quick lunch of chicken fingers and chips, they all made their way over to the water park.

The boys finished changing first and were waiting outside for the girls. When the girls stepped out of the changing room, Harry couldn't stop staring at Daphne. Even though he had seen her in a bikini the day before, he couldn't help but appreciate how beautiful his girlfriend was.

Daphne walked and gave him a quick kiss, which brought him out of his daze. Looking over, they saw Neville basically drooling over Astoria while the younger girl was blushing from head to toe. Harry grinned at them. Daphne swatted him in the arm, but couldn't help but grin as well.

She wanted Astoria to be happy. Right now, Astoria was feeling a little left out, being the third wheel of the group. Daphne knew that Neville would treat her right. She thought that he had a lot of potential, but he just lacked confidence. Hopefully, Astoria could help him with that. Daphne thought that it would be great if he and Astoria got together.

Harry gave his friend a nudge in the stomach. Neville blushed at being caught staring. Astoria simply smiled at them.

The four of them spent the afternoon playing in around, riding tube slides and water slides. The boys enjoyed going on the double tubes, sitting behind the girls and holding their waists, even if Neville was blushing the entire time. When they got bored, they just lounged next to the wave pool.

At night, the water park closed, but they went on a few more rides. Grabbing a quick dinner, they went to check out the arcades. Harry won Daphne a huge stuffed rabbit, while Neville got Astoria a giant stuffed monkey.

They all had a ton of fun, and were exhausted when they got back to Potter Manor. After Neville flooed home, Astoria got a good bit of teasing, but she could tell that they were happy for her.

When Harry and Daphne were asleep that night, Astoria was still awake, thinking about how happy she had been next to Neville. She had realized that Harry invited Neville to set them up, and was happy that her new 'brother' wanted her to be happy.


	5. Chapter 5

**July 1, 1996**

The next morning, Harry left the girls to sleep in while he went to Diagon Alley to take care of business.

Dobby apparated him to the alley outside the Leaky Cauldron. ' _I need to learn how to apparate,_ ' he thought to himself.

Harry made his way into Gringotts and was immediately ushered to Riptooth's office.

"Mr. Potter, you are here to remove the blocks on your magic?"

Harry nodded.

"Follow me." Riptooth led him through a labyrinth of corridors until they reached a spacious chamber that had runes covering almost every centimeter of the floor and walls. In the middle of the room was a circle, where he was instructed to lay down.

As Harry laid on the ground, a group of seven goblins entered the room and took up positions around the room.

"This ritual will take care of all blocks on your magic, even ones that we may not have detected," said Riptooth. He walked out the door. Right before closing it, he said, "By the way, this is going to hurt."

Before Harry could register what was said, he felt pain seeing through every nerve ending. It was worse than the cruciatus curse. Harry felt as if his magic was being torn apart, which was actually close to what was actually happening.

There were beams of magic connecting each goblin to Harry's core, literally tugging on the blocks, slowly breaking them down.

A few hours later, Harry was aggressively shaken awake by a worried Riptooth.

"Lord Potter. Are you alright?"

"Riptooth?"

"Good. You're awake. There was also a partial power block on you that the ritual removed."

Harry was too exhausted from the ritual to really think about what Riptooth said. The account manager fed him a pepper-up potion and energy restoration draught, and immediately, Harry felt better. Riptooth led him back to his office.

"Here are the basilisk parts that we have finished harvesting," said Riptooth, handing Harry several shrunken crates. "We have already taken our share of the meat and deducted the gold from your vaults. Can Gringotts help you with anything else today, Lord Potter?"

"Can you transfer the stolen gold from my vault back during the next Wizengamot meeting?"

Riptooth smirked. "Of course, My Lord."

Feeling tired, Harry quickly made a few errands before heading back to Potter Manor. His first stop was Eeylops Owl Emporium, where he bought two owls and a bag of owl treats.

Right now, Dobby was having Hedwig deliver his notes to the Order so that they would still think that he was at Privet Drive. Harry didn't want Hedwig to be in any danger, so he bought an owl that he could charm to look like Hedwig to deliver his letters. The other owl for for Astoria so that she could write to Neville.

Next, he dropped by the store that sold dragon hide armor and gave the owner almost half of the basilisk hide that he had acquired, shocking the owner speechless. Harry planned on having full armor made for all three of them and a few sets of extra just in case.

After picking up the three multi-compartment trunks that he ordered, Harry ventured into muggle London, where he bought a few lamps and power strips for Daphne to work on. Hopefully she would be able to get them working.

As soon as he was finished, Harry found a private alley and called Dobby to take him home.

Harry stored the basilisk parts in a closet and met the girls at the pool where they were tanning and talking quietly.

"Hey."

"How was it?" asked Daphne.

"It hurt a bit and took out a lot of my energy, so I'll probably take a nap after lunch. Why don't you guys go get changed and I'll try to help Winky make lunch."

Astoria gave him a hug and went inside.

"Daph, I got some lamps and strips for you to try to make them work."

She gave him a kiss and went to change as well.

Harry went into the kitchen to find Winky. She was almost done making lunch, so he just chatted with her while she cooked.

A few minutes later, the girls came in, dressed in floral sundresses. When Winky finished making lunch, they all sat at the table and dug in.

"So are you a metamorph and an occlumens now?" asked Astoria

"I have the abilities, but I have to learn how to use them. And I'm only a limited metamorph, so I can't change everything about me. I guess I'll have to experiment to see what I can change. They also removed a block on my magic."

Daphne gaped at him. "But...you're already extremely powerful…"

"I don't know how powerful I actually am. I don't think I'm as strong as Dumbledore or Voldemort yet, but I might be after I reach my magical maturity."

"Wow."

Harry chuckled. "Do you guys want to become animagi?"

Both girls squealed and ran over to hug Harry tightly.

"Tori, are you any good at potions?" he asked.

"I've gotten an O every year."

"Great. Do you want to brew the potion this afternoon? I need to get some rest. Removing the bindings on my magic really took a lot out of me, and I think Daph wants to get started with making muggle objects work around magic."

He looked at Daphne who had a bright smile on her face.

"Oh! Thank you Harry!" said Astoria, hugging him again, and running off. She called back, "We'll have to pick Marauder names, too!"

"By the way, there's two new owls in barn outside. You can pick whichever one you want."

Astoria thanked him again and ran off.

Daphne noticed that Harry was practically falling asleep at the table. "Let's get you to sleep," she said, helping him upstairs.

After Daphne watched Harry sleep for a while, once again appreciating her new life, she got out Lily Potter's journal and went to the library to figure out what she needed to do.

"Dobby!"

The excitable house elf appeared with a pop. "What can Dobby do for Miss Daffie?"

"Could you please get the muggle things that Harry bought today?"

Dobby popped away and came back with two lamps and a few power strips.

"Thanks."

Daphne got to work opening the boxes of lamps. She smiled when she noticed that they would be perfect on their nightstand. Daphne took the lamp out and examined the plug. From how Harry described muggle power, or electricity, she knew that it ran through thin strips of metal called wires.

Her first step was to shield the entire lamp from magic so that no magic could get affect it. She flipped the lamp upside down and began carefully carving the runes on the bottom. She figured it was the best place to put them so that they wouldn't be seen.

After sealing the lamp from magic, Daphne tested to see if the runes worked. She performed a levitating charm on it and there was no effect. Putting the lamp on a book, Daphne levitated the book and the two objects both floated a few inches.

Next, she had to find a place to carve the runes that turned ambient magic into electricity. Daphne knew that she had to somehow carve the runes on the wire, since wires were what carried the electricity to the light bulb.

Thinking a bit, Daphne took out her wand and vanished the rubber over the wire and plug. She saw that the wire was copper, but the plug part was steel, so she cut off the steel with a quick 'diffindo'.

Then, Daphne transfigured the copper into a thin metal plate that would fit on the bottom of the lamp. A corner of the copper plate was connected to a small, remaining part of the wire so that the current could pass. Daphne used a sticking charm to secure the plate to the bottom of the lamp.

Daphne picked up her rune carving tools and got to work. She made sure to double check with Lily Potter's journal to make sure that she was carving the runes perfectly.

After she was finished, Daphne wiped the sweat off of her brow. She checked her watch and realized that she had been working for two hours. Finding a light bulb in the box that the lamp came in, Daphne slowly screwed it in the lamp.

Daphne let out a breath that she didn't even know that she was holding. The light came on immediately. She was surprised at how bright it was. Slowly touching the light bulb, Daphne found that it was slightly warm. She was amazed that muggles could harness this energy, while wizards still relied on either their wands or candles for light.

She went to see how Astoria was doing with her potion. Daphne considered herself very good at potions, and Astoria was almost on the same level.

 **Two Hours Ago**

Astoria had run all the way to the barn behind the manor. The first time she saw the barn, she had told Harry that he should get some horses. He had told her that he would look into it. Right now, Dobby and Winky were taking turns taking care of the grounds. If he got horses, he would have to find another elf that could take care of the grounds as well, leaving Dobby and Winky to take care of the residents.

When she went inside of the barn, she immediately went to the top floor, where there was an owlery set up. Astoria saw a large, majestic looking owl and a smaller one that looked like it would enjoy delivering day-to-day mail. She approached the second owl and stroked its wings.

"Hey there. Do you have a name?"

The owl hooted once while shaking its head.

"Hm... How about Hermes?"

It shook its head again and flew over to land on Astoria's outstretched arm.

"Apollo?"

"Artemis?"

"Zeus?"

The owl gave a positive hoot at the last one.

"Zeus, then. Well I've got to get back.I'll try to stop by later or have a house elf send off a letter for me."

With that, she went back inside the manor and made her way to the basement, where the potion lab was located.

She found that the ingredients cabinet was fully stocked and everything was under a strong stasis spell. Dobby had told them that the cabinet was charmed to replace ingredients automatically, charging it to the Potter vault.

Astoria opened the Marauders' journal and found the recipe for the animals potion. It was a difficult potion that would take a few hours, but sheer felt that she would be able to make it.

She went to the cabinet and took out the ingredients that she needed. Some of them were quite expensive.

After filling a cauldron with water and setting it on a fire, she went about cutting and measuring ingredients.

Astoria saw that the water was boiling and started adding ingredients in and stirring the potion as the directions instructed. Many of the ingredients were from animals and different hallucinogens.

Working diligently for almost two whole hours, Astoria sat back. The potion was almost finished. It just needed to simmer for another hour before being taken off of the fire.

Daphne walked in just as Astoria began to clean up. She helped her sister, chatting with her while they worked.

As they waited for the potion top finish, Daphne went to wake up Harry and Astoria found one of Harry's pens and paper and wrote a letter to Neville.

Daphne went to their bedroom and saw that Harry was still sleeping. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to his lips. Even though he didn't wake, his lips still curved into a smile. She kissed him again, this time more forcefully, and his eyes fluttered open before kissing back.

Daphne sat on the bed next to Harry. "Did you get enough rest?"

"Yup. How was working with a lamp?"

She gave him a bright smile and handed him his glasses. He sat up and smiled at her. Harry noticed that the lamp was now in the nightstand and was turned on.

He pulled her onto his lap and surprised her with a passionate kiss. They snogged for a while until they were rudely interrupted by a cough.

"You know... You've just spent the last hour snogging... " said Astoria.

Harry and Daphne quickly separated and blushed at being caught.

Astoria simply laughed. "C'mon, the potion's done!"

Harry and Daphne got up and followed Astoria down to the basement. They saw that there were three cots in the potions lab. He looked to Astoria and raised a questioning eyebrow.

She answered the unasked question. "The potion is supposed to knock us out for a while, so I thought it would be best if we laid down."

Astoria handed each of them a vial of the animagus potion. She put the remaining potion into a larger vial that she stored in the potion cupboard.

They sat on the cots and downed their potions. Before they were able to completely lay down, the potions effects had already slipped out of consciousness.

Harry's vision blackened, and eventually morphed into running through a jungle. He deducted that he was a four legged animal, and could see that he had black fur. Harry found that in the vision, the animal was controlling itself. The animal heard running water and started running towards the source. Staring down into a stream, Harry finally saw his animagus's reflection. He was a black panther, but he maintained his emerald green eyes. The panther walked around for a while and then curled up next to a tree.

Right after his vision darkened, Harry woke up in the potions lab again. He saw that Daphne and Astoria were also in the process of waking up as well.

"I'm a Tawny Eagle!" announced Astoria proudly.

"A Timber Wolf with gold fur."

"A black jaguar."

"Okay...so the book says that we will have to work on transforming one limb at a time before doing the entire transformation."

Daphne asked, "How long will it take?"

"Harry's dad wrote that it took three years, but we have a lot of their notes, so I think we can do it in less than one. They spent most of their time actually searching for the potion recipe."

With smiles, the three of them went upstairs to enjoy a wonderful dinner prepared by Dobby and Winky,

That night, the three of them sat down and started working on their occlumency shields, Daphne already had relatively strong mental shields, so she started teaching Harry how to organize his mind while Astoria worked on strengthening her shields.

"You mentioned that Snape was supposed to teach you occlumency. Can you tell me what he had you do?" asked Daphne.

"He just told me to clear my mind and then tried to break into my mind."

"WHAT!" Daphne shrieked.

Harry didn't understand what she was fussing about. "What?"

"That's not teaching you how occlumency. In fact, he was breaking down your natural barriers."

Harry frowned.

"I wonder if he was actually supposed to teach me or was under Dumbledore's orders to rape my mind..."

"We can find out at the next Wizengamot meeting. We can charge him with illegal mind rape."

"How are we going to get everyone to the meeting without tipping off Dumbledore?"

"We'll have to get some help. Let's talk about this later."

They spent the rest of the night working on their occlumency. Daphne taught Harry how to meditate, and he found that being a natural occlumens helped him sort through his memories easily.

 **July 2, 1996**

Harry woke everyone up at seven in the morning to get them started on some physical training.

"Remind me why we're up so early again?" asked Astoria.

"Because being in shape will help you last longer in a duel. Plus it makes you look hotter."

At this, the girls perked up and stopped complaining. Although Harry knew little about working out, he figured that they couldn't go wrong with running.

He led them on a run around the property, but quickly found that he tired very easily. After running for barely fifteen minutes, he was winded and the girls didn't look any better.

"Okay... This is going to be harder than I thought. If we do this everyday, we'll get better."

With that, they all walked back inside to take showers.

Half an hour later, the three of them sat down and ate a large breakfast that Dobby laid out for them.

"Dobby is knowing that Harry Potter and his Greenies very hungry," he said.

After breakfast, Harry grabbed a few books on battle magic and made his way to the potions lab in the basement of the manor, where the girls would be spending the morning brewing potions.

"What are you brewing?" he asked.

"It's a surprise," replied Astoria with a smirk.

He raised an eyebrow and turned his attention to the book he was reading.

The first thing that the book stressed was that magic was not light or dark, which made sense to Harry. Light spells could be used to do evil things while dark spells could be used to do good. Apparently, the only reason that dark shields were addictive was because they made people feel powerful and essentially gave them a high feeling.

He realized that they were in a war, and that killing people was necessary. If they continued to send Death Eaters to Azkaban, then the they would just be broken out later. The criminals needed to be put down permanently.

As he flipped through a book on battle magic, Harry jotted down certain spells that he wanted to try. Some of the spells that he came across were simply disgusting.

" _Why would I use a spell that turns someone's skin inside out when I can just hit them with a simpler spell that isn't as messy?_ " he thought.

Harry thought that if he could use muggle weapons, he would have a huge advantage. He made a mental note to buy some guns to test out.

After a while, Harry wanted to go try out some of the spells that he found.

"How long is this potion going to take?"

"After another fifteen minutes, we have to stir in a few drops of salamander blood and let it sit for twenty four hours. We will to do the next part of tomorrow.

Harry's eyes widened. "It takes that long to brew a potion?"

He was momentarily astonished by how long it took to create a single potion, but then he remembered how Hermione brewed polyjuice for them in second year and that it took many weeks to brew.

"Yup." replied Daphne.

"Do you think that you can brew some veritaserum? I was thinking of questioning Remus this afternoon."

"Sure. It's not a very complicated potion. I'm sure that even you could brew it," replied Astoria with a smirk.

Harry stuck his tongue at her. "Well I'm going to go practice some spells. I'll teach them to you when I figure them out. I'd you need anything, I'll be in the training room."

Daphne nodded and turned back to the potion that she and Astoria were working on.

In the training room, Harry started off with some simple spells that he already knew. He set up a training dummy on the other side of the room and cast a disarming charm at it

"Expelliarmus!" he shouted.

The dummy was thrown back and smashed against the far wall while the fake wand that it was holding came spinning at Harry at a dangerous speed. He barely had time to duck to avoid being hit by the fake wand.

Apparently having the bindings on his magic removed made his spells a lot more powerful. He would have to be careful with his magic from now on.

Harry levitated the dummy back to where it was standing earlier. "Reducto!"

This time, the dummy exploded, dispersing splinters everywhere. The was no way that he would be able fix the dummy. He vanished the remains of the former dummy and made his way outside.

In the yard, Harry conjured a boulder and cast the reductor curse again, trying to control the amount of power released. The boulder immediately turned into a fine powder.

Harry barely felt tired from using so much magic. He wondered how his power would compare to that of Dumbledore and Voldemort. He might not be as powerful now, but after reaching his magical maturity in a year, Harry's power would significantly increase.

Instead of conjuring another boulder, Harry just continued casting the the same spell at the ground, trying to control the amount of magic that flowed through his wand.

After a while, he was finally able to limit the power of his _reducto_ so that it wouldn't be lethal if it hit someone anywhere other than the head. Harry then moved on to some of the battle spells that he had found, starting with a few advanced banishing, explosion, and cutting curses. He was careful to control the amount of power that he put into each spell.

Harry knew that adding a little more power into his reductor curse would already make it lethal, but these spells that he was trying required a more advanced shield to block. Someone with enough power would be able to block one of his powerful reducto's, but they would need to have knowledge of advanced shields to defend against these battle spells.

Using a few advanced blasting curses, Harry was knocking tons of dirt into the air. The girls must have heard the loud noises from inside because, when the air cleared, he saw Daphne and Astoria running at him.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER!" Daphne yelled. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?"

"Uh...trying out new spells...Now that the bindings on my magic are gone, I tend to overpower a lot of my spells," explained Harry, carefully.

Daphne huffed. She eyed the massive hole in the middle of the estate grounds. "Now what about this crater? We sure as hell can't fix it by ourselves."

"Let's make a lake!" shouted Astoria.

Harry had to agree with her, the crater would look good filled with water. Before, the estate grounds were just a lot of grass. Now, they could make it a lake that would be fun to swim in. He thought that they could even get a small boat to paddle around in.

"I like it. We'll work on it when we have some extra time."

Now, Harry begun dreaming up things to add to the massive estate. There was plenty of room to add a regulation size Quidditch pitch. He could even get a few bleachers for spectators as well.

Going inside, they all got cleaned up and congregated in the family dining room to enjoy another delicious, Winky-prepared meal.

"We should have our talk with Remus today," said Harry.

"Are we still going to kidnap him?" Daphne inquired.

"Yeah...I can't think of anything else."

"Won't he be upset about being interrogated by veritaserum?"

"I supposed..." replied Harry. "But we have to be sure of his loyalty. Unless you have a better idea..."

"No. I guess it'll have to do."

"And if he can't be trusted, we'll just obliviate him!" announced Astoria.

"Great! Let's do it!"

Daphne smiled at Harry's enthusiasm. While Harry was excited to see the former professor again, she realized that he was also a little nervous about the meeting. Remus was Harry's last connection to his parents, and she hoped that Remus wouldn't betray him.

Astoria ran to the potions lab and came back with a vial filled with a clear liquid.

Harry knew that the order was likely to scan their mail for signs of magic, so he had Daphne carve anti-magic runners on the inside of the envelope. He turned a blank sheet of parchment into a portkey and put it into the envelope. He used a Quick-Quotes Quill to address the envelope to Remus, effectively masking his handwriting.

He sent off the envelope with his new owl that was yet to be named. The three of them put on their cloaks and had Dobby apparate them to the Shrieking Shack.

Donning their hoods, they each hid in a corner of the room and waited for the werewolf to appear.

A few minutes later, they were not disappointed. Just as Remus was about to land, Daphne and Astoria each hit him with a stunning spell, while Harry casted _incarcerous_.

Harry let Astoria conjure a simple wooden chair and he levitated Remus on to it.

Harry and Daphne stepped back and drew their wands. Astoria uncorked the vial of veritaserum and put three drops into Remus's mouth.

"Enervate."

Remus groaned and shook the dizziness from his throbbing head.

"What is your full name?" he heard.

He hadn't even registered the question before hearing himself say, "Remus John Lupin."

"How do you feel about Harry Potter?"

"He's my last connection to James and Lily. I would do anything for him."

"Would you ever betray him?"

"No! I'd rather die." Remus was confused. These were obviously not death eaters, so what were they questioning him for?

Daphne stopped Harry as he was about to remove his hood.

"Let me ask a few more questions so that we know that we can trust him completely," she whispered.

Harry nodded.

"Would you support Harry Potter if he went against Albus Dumbledore?"

"If he was doing the right thing."

"Do you think that Dumbledore would steal money from Harry and pay his friends to be his friends?"

"I wouldn't assume it, but it could be possible."

"If you found out that Albus Dumbledore was stealing from Harry and setting him up to die, who would you support?"

"Harry."

Daphne saw that his eyes were beginning to uncloud and stopped the interrogation. She was fairly sure that they could trust him.

When Remus's mind was clear again, he was furious. "What the hell do you want from me?"

Harry removed his hood and gave Remus an apologetic look. "Sorry, I had to determine if I can trust you. I've found out recently that I've been manipulated my entire life."

Remus was confused and initially angry, but he forced himself to cool down. "I'm sure you're going to give me a good explanation for this."

"Let's go somewhere more comfortable first," Harry replied. He picked up a nearby plank of wood.

"Portus," he incanted.

Remus gave him with a questioning look, to which he replied with a nonchalant "later".

The group arrived at the front gates of the Potter estate.

"Wait here, while I add you to the wards."

Remus was so shocked at seeing Potter Manor that he forgot that he was upset about being kidnapped.

After a few minutes, Harry sent his patronus saying that he had added Remus to the wards.

Harry was waiting for everyone in the entrance hall.

"Harry, how are we at Potter Manor? Dumbledore said that it was burned down by Death Eaters after James and Lily were killed."

Harry growled. "Another thing to add to my list of grievances."

"Care to fill me in?" asked Remus.

"Inside." Harry motioned into the door. "By the way, these are my lovely companions, Daphne and Astoria Greengrass."

The girls removed their hoods to reveal their identities.

"Hello, Professor Lupin," they said in unison.

"Slytherins?"

"Is that a problem?" challenged Astoria.

Remus chucked. "No. Not at all. I'm just surprised."

Harry led them to the drawing room, where he called Dobby to bring them tea.

For the next few hours, Harry, Daphne, and Astoria took turns telling Remus about Dumbledore's manipulations.

"Professor Lupin, we think that he was setting Harry up to die," said Daphne.

"Please. Call me Remus or Moony, And it seems like it, if he went so far as to write a false will for Harry."

Harry was surprised at how willing Remus was willing to accept that Dumbledore wasn't the saint that everyone made him out to be.

When he voiced his thoughts, Remus replied with, "James was always an avid Dumbledore supporter, but Lily was always suspicious of him. She said that there was something too perfect about him."

Harry nodded. It seemed that his mum was quite a brilliant witch.

"So you plan on training on your own to take on You-Know-Who?"

"Yeah. We were hoping you would help us train."

"I'd love to. Do you want me to quit the order?"

"That's your own choice. I don't want to force anyone to do anything."

"How about I stay and try to see if anyone else is willing to join your side. After the Department of Mysteries, a lot of the fighters are realizing how useless the Order actually is. Everyone we turn in just gets released."

It was decided that Remus would pretend to be a loyal Dumbledore follower. This wouldn't be too hard, since the old goat had done so much to help Remus that it would be easy to overplay his loyalty.

When they talked about the meeting that was going to happen on Thursday, Remus asked if he could bring Tonks.

Harry smirked. "You two finally got together?"

Remus sputtered a few incoherent words. Harry stopped him and asked, "Do you trust her?"

"Yes."

"Okay. I'll add her to the wards. After all, she's family."

"Huh?"

Harry flashed him the Black head of house ring. "Sirius made me his heir."

Remus smiled. "I'd hate to see the money fall into Malfoy's hands."

"This also means that you need my permission if you want to marry Tonks," Harry said with a serious expression.

Remus paled.

After a few seconds, Astoria started cracking up. Daphne soon followed, and eventually Harry couldn't help himself either.

The three terms were rolling on the floor in laughter while Remus had a blank look on his face.

Harry composed himself and put a reassuring hand on Remus's shoulder. "Don't worry. I like Tonks."

Remus was invited to stay at Potter Manor with them, so he went home and packed some things to bring.

During dinner, they talked about the animagus process. Remus was unable to offer much help, since he wasn't an animagus, but he was able to clarify a lot of the theory behind the transformation.

After dinner, the teens again, sat around in the drawing room and practiced their occlumency. Harry was now beginning to build his mental shields.

Since the people that would use legilimency on him were most likely going to be ignorant of the muggle world, he thought that he would use something from the muggle world.

Harry's first thought was to try mimicking a computer, but he quickly found out that he didn't know enough about computers to do it, but he found that he was able to use many of the concepts that computers used.

He created a mental image of Potter Manor and stored his memories into different rooms by category. Harry then built two secret vaults under his basement that he keyed to only his and Daphne's magical signature. In one, he put his most secret memories, sorted like a library. The other vault was a backup of all of his memories, in case someone tried to alter his memories or obliviate him.

When Harry finally opened his eyes after meditating, he realized that a few hours had passed and it was nearly time to turn in.

The other three were reading various books, obviously waiting for him to finish meditating.

 **June 4, 1996**

Thursday had finally arrived. Harry, Daphne and Astoria were in the entrance hall, waiting for their friends to arrive.

Suddenly, a hyena patronus charged into the room. It stopped in front of Harry and spoke, "It's Fred. Can we bring Ginny?"

When the patronus dissolved, Harry turned to Daphne. "What do you think?"

Since the redhead had a always had a crush on Harry, Daphne never really liked the younger girl. However, Daphne didn't want to be one of those girls that wouldn't even let their boyfriends talk to other girls.

"Do to trust her?"

"I don't know, but I trust the twins."

"Okay."

Harry pulled her into a passionate kiss and rested his forehead on hers. "I know you don't like her that much, so thank you."

They were interrupted by Astoria making gagging noises at them. In the blink of an eye, Daphne had her wand out and was casting singing hexes at her sister.

Harry added Ginny to the ward book and sent off a patronus back to Fred confirming that they could bring her.

A few minutes later, the fireplace turned green and Tracey stepped out. She was wearing a pair of jean shorts and a light blue tank top. Harry was momentarily surprised that she was dressed as a muggle, but then remembered that she was a half-blood as well.

Harry got to know Tracey better while they waited for the others to show up.

Neville was the next to arrive, and was immediately hugged by an enthusiastic Astoria. Pulling apart, they both blushed at the sounds of Harry and Daphne's laughter.

Ellie stepped out of the fire next, followed almost immediately by Remus and Tonks. After a few minutes, the three Weasleys arrived as well.

"Sorry Harrikins."

"We needed to-"

"Smuggle little Ginny-"

"Away from the Burrow."

Harry shook his head while the others had amused grins pasted on their faces. He looked around at everyone. Ginny was staring at Daphne and Astoria with a frown. He also noticed that Daphne had slipped on her "Ice Queen" mask again, having the hard look in her eyes that showed no emotion.

"Okay everyone. You are here we think you are trustworthy. There are a lot of things that we want to tell you, but we will need you all to take oaths and submit to a short questioning by veritaserum."

Seeing the shocked faces, he quickly added, "None of this will be unreasonable. I will go through the same questioning as well. We will do the questioning first. Then we will tell you everything. If you still want to stay, then we will ask you to take an oath to keep our secrets."

The group relaxed a little but they were still obviously on edge.

"Who is we?" asked Tonks.

"That would be me, Daphne, Astoria, and to an extent, Remus.

"WHAT!" shouted Ginny.

Harry glared at her. "Ginny, please try to keep an open mind. Not all Slytherin's are evil. We'll explain everything in a bit."

Astoria pulled out her vial of veritaserum and put three drops in Harry's mouth.

She then read a list of questions that she and Daphne put together.

"What is your full name?"

"Harry James Potter."

"Are you a Death Eater or Death Eater sympathizer?"

"No."

"Do you want to end this war?"

"Yes."

"Are you willing to fight against Tom Riddle, also known as You-Know-Who, the Dark Lord, and Voldemort and his fighters?"

"Yes."

"Would you be willing to go against Albus Dumbledore if necessary?"

"Yes."

Many were surprised at the last question, but nobody wanted to voice their concerns just yet. Luckily, Harry addressed this issue.

"I'll explain the last part after we have all gone through questioning.

Daphne and Astoria went next. Daphne gave Ginny a hard glare before opening her mouth to accept the potion. After them, everyone else was much more willing to go through the questioning.

To Harry's relief, everyone easily passed the test. Tracey and Eleanor were not willing to fight, but they still wanted to help in some way.

"I'm sure many of you are wondering what I'm doing at Potter Manor and why Daphne and Astoria are with me," he said. "Well it all started last week. You see, Sirius had just died..."

"Sirius Black?" Ellie interrupted.

Harry frowned. "Yes. And before you say anything, he was innocent. I'll explain that later."

"Anyway. After we fought Voldemort in the Department of Mysteries, Dumbledore showed me the prophecy."

"The one that You-Know-Who wanted?" asked Neville.

"Yes. That one."

"I thought that it broke during the fight."

"It did, but the prophecy was originally made to Dumbledore sixteen years ago, before I was born."

" _The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…_ "

Everyone was silent and staring at Harry with wide eyes, some filled with pity, others filed with awe.

"So Harrikins."

"Seems like you really are-"

"The Chosen one."

The twins succeeded in lightening the mood.

"Harry," Neville began.

"Yes," said Harry, anticipating his question. "The prophecy could have been about either me or you, but he went after me and marked me as his equal." He pushed aside his hair to show his scar.

"So Dumbledore has been training you?" asked Tonks.

"No!" Harry growled. "He says that I needed to have a childhood. Yet, he left me with my aunt and uncle who hate magic. I was forced to live in a cupboard for ten years and do all the chores. I've never had a childhood."

Daphne gave him a comforting hug from the side.

Harry continued, "So I decided to go to Gringotts to find out what I owned to see if I could get away from my relatives." He explained how he found out that he was the head of the Potter and Black families and could be emancipated as Lord Potter-Black.

"While down in my vaults, I found a marriage contract and will."

"Is that why you're with the snake?" asked Ginny tactlessly.

Daphne glared at the redhead. "No. The marriage contract was to you?"

Ginny was both relieved and conflicted. She had always wanted to marry Harry, but she didn't want Harry to marry her because he had to. But then again, if Harry wasn't betrothed to Daphne, then he was with her by choice.

"Yes. The marriage contract was to Ginny. However, it was signed by both Mrs. Weasley and Dumbledore. Since the old goat wasn't head of House Potter, he had no right to write a marriage contract for me," Harry said. "It was illegal, so I ripped it up," he finished nonchalantly.

Ginny's eyes started watering. She had always dreamed of marrying Harry Potter, but now, he was basically telling her that it was not going to happen.

"Ginny." Harry pleaded. "Please look at me."

She slowly met his eyes.

"I know you wanted to be with me, but you have always seen me as the boy-who-lived, not just Harry."

Ginny bowed her head again, knowing that he was right.

Harry continued his explanation. He told then how he and Remus came to the conclusion that Dumbledore was setting him up to die.

"Harry." said Neville. "I think you should talk to Madam Bones about this. She's the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement and is known for being fair."

"I agree," added Tonks. "I think she would be a great help to us."

"Since you're an auror, can you set up a meeting with her?"

"Sure. Where do you want this meeting?"

"Somewhere secure. Either here, her home, or somewhere warded."

"I'll let her know."

"Thanks."

Harry knew that everyone was curious about his relationship with the Greengrass girls, so he decided to address that next.

"Now, as for why Daphne and Astoria are with me... The story starts back in third year when..."

Harry explained how he met Daphne and how they became secret friends because she would be in danger if anyone found out.

"When I needed to get away from my relatives, I didn't know who I could trust. Hermione would go running to Dumbledore, even if she wasn't stealing from me, and Ron would tell Hermione, so I got in touch with Daphne."

He looked at Daphne to see if she wanted to add anything. She still had her cold mask on and showed little emotion. As if my silent communication, Harry agreed not to say that her parents were now Death Eaters.

"Turns out, Daphne and Astoria were having some problems at home, so they came with me."

"I don't think that Lord Greengrass has noticed that his daughters are missing yet. He probably won't until the annual Nott summer ball in early August, when Daphne and Astoria fail to make an appearance," added Tracey.

The Weasleys were shocked that any parents would act that way. They were so used to the over overwhelming presence of the Weasley matriarch that they couldn't imagine having parents that didn't care about their children.

Not wanting to discuss Daphne's parents, Harry went on to explain how they would be training to fight Death Eaters. He made sure that everyone understood that stunning was not enough anymore.

Fred and George nodded along to his reasoning. They saw how useless the Order actually was. Criminals were being a sent to Azkaban and simply broken out.

"If you're killing people, then what makes you better than the Death Eaters?" covered Ellie.

This time Astoria came to Harry's defense. "We're going to have to kill, but we're not going to enjoy it. That's what makes us better. That we are willing to do what others won't in order to protect those we care about."

"You're going to be fighting too?"

"Of course!" she practically shouted. "I'm only a year younger than them."

"Yes. Astoria will fight alongside us. While I wish that you all could remain safe, I also realize that we need skilled fighters, and Astoria had a lot of potential," Harry said, gazing at his pseudo-sister. "I don't want her to fight, but it's really her choice. If she's going to be out there, I want her to be as prepared as possible."

Ellie looked around at everyone. "I don't think that I can kill someone," she timidly said.

Astoria went over to give her a hug. "You don't have to if you don't want to."

"That's right," added Harry. "If you still want to help us, then we can find to another job."

Seeing Ellie nod, he continued, "What do you want to do after Hogwarts?"

"Be a healer."

Harry grinned. "Perfect. You can learn to be a healer. I'm sure Tonks knows some first aid and you can have access to all of my libraries, including the Potter, Black, and Slytherin libraries."

Half the people in the room gasped.

"We went to the Chamber of Secrets had a look around," he explained. "We got a bunch of potions stuff, weapons, and a whole library. It's set up in an empty room here."

"Harry," Ginny meekly said. "Could you...take me back there? I want to see it again."

Harry looked her in the eye. "Are you sure about this?"

"Yes. I need to get past my fears."

"Okay. We'll go when we have time."

All of guests agreed to take an oath not to betray each other and to keep the group secret.

The all figured out their roles in the group. Everyone except Ellie and Tracey would be trained by Remus and Tonks. Tracey and Ellie would work with Tonks to learn healing and then self-study more advanced healing.

The twins were going to focus on inventing things that would be useful in battle. They had already created Peruvian instant darkness powder, a powder that would block out all the light in a room. They had yet to find a way to see through it, which was both good and bad. It would block out their own vision as well.

After all the important talk was taken care of, they all moved to the dining room to enjoy a feast made by Dobby and Winky.

Lunch was a great stress reliever for the entire crowd. Harry had been constantly stressing about both the war and dealing with Dumbledore for the last week, and he was enjoying being able to wind down and just enjoy joking with his friends.

After lunch, people began leaving for their own homes.

Harry held Tracey and Ellie back, stating that he wanted to talk to them about something. The younger girl was still a little in awe of being in Harry Potter's home. Neville stayed behind to chat with Astoria as well.

"Follow me," said Harry, leading the two girls down a hallway.

They came to a door that Harry pushed open, revealing a large library.

"I want to thank you two for sticking by Daphne and Astoria. They mean a lot to me. This is Slytherin's library that we took from the Chamber of Secrets. Feel free to make copies of any books you want. The books were published before the copyright spell was invented, so you will be able to copy them with a simple _Gemino_. Don't worry about underage magic. The wards prevent it from being detected."

The girls' eyes went wide before rushing to the index book that was on a pedestal in the middle of the room. They each found a few books that they wanted to read and made copies.

"You can come as often as you want, so you don't have to take that much. I only ask you to vanish the books as soon as you're done. I don't want some of this stuff falling in the wrong hands."

After a plethora of thanks, the girls hugged Daphne and Astoria and left through the fireplace.

Neville gave Astoria a hug that had them both blushing red. He quickly kissed her on the cheek flooed home, leaving Astoria with a huge smile on her face.

That afternoon, they continued to work on new spells and practice their dueling. Harry thought that it would be a good idea to practice dodging, so they took turns, two people casting light stinging hexes at the third.

Harry went to bed feeling much more confident about what he was doing, and glad that he had so many friends that believed in him.


	6. update

**Im sorry I haven't updated for awhile but I cant really thing of any thing to write about so if you guys wanna helo me cause I'm still having a huge case of writers block.**


	7. Chapter 6

Sorry for the long wait I had writers block and my laptop broke which i finally got it fix.

Like always I do not own Harry Potter, as it belongs to J.K. Rowling

A/N: Published January 4, 2015

 **July 5, 1996**

The next morning began with a run around the manor and a delicious Winky-made breakfast. Following the breakfast, Harry continued working with Daphne and Astoria on their dueling skills. After an hour of practicing spells and shields with each other, It became clear that Harry and Daphne's skills complimented each other, with Harry attacking and Daphne defending. Harry also noticed that Astoria didn't cast as quickly, but she was great at dodging and had insane accuracy.

Harry had showed them his memory from the Department of Mysteries earlier in the week, and Daphne had realized that they were all casting too slow.

" _Expelliarmus_ has a lot of syllables that make it slow to cast. We should try using spells with shorter words or learn to cast silently," she said.

"I suppose we could practice casting silently. Plus, it would give us an edge over our opponents because they wouldn't know what spell we casted and when we were going to cast them."

"What about spell chains?" asked Astoria.

Harry gave her a confused look, and Daphne explained to him how if the end wand motion of one spell was the same as the beginning motion for another spell, then the two spells could be chained together. Good duelists could chain together as many spells as they wanted, provided that they didn't tire out or get interrupted.

"If we can do that and cast silently, we'll have a huge advantage!" Harry said excitedly.

"Especially since the Death Eaters cast mostly unforgivables," Daphne added.

"Why don't we revisit this when we have some time in the library. That way we can write down the spells we know and their beginning and ending wand movements."

Since they still had a few hours until noon, when Winky usually served lunch, the three teens got their new trunks and met in the drawing room.

"Can I go first?" asked Astoria.

"Sure."

Astoria immediately unlocked her trunk and climbed into the living room. All the furniture was tastefully selected. They didn't spend a lot of time looking around, since it was basically the same as the trunk that they saw in the shop. The two empty rooms were much larger than expected. They could easily be converted into anything that they wanted.

"You can ask Winky or Dobby to help you set up the two rooms however you want. Just remember, that I'm going to set up a private floo between our trunks, so you don't need a library, training room, or potions lab, unless you want your own lab."

Daphne said, "The potions lab in my trunk should be big enough for us both to work comfortably, and it'll be easier if all of our ingredients are all in the same place."

Astoria gave her sister a hug and called for Winky. She whispered instructions to the excited elf, ignoring the curious looks on Harry and Daphne's faces.

When Winky left, Harry walked up to the fireplace in the living room and pulled out a book. He practiced the wand motions and pronunciations a few times before trying the spell that would create a private floo network. The key to making the network private was to put three drops of blood into the fire between the first and second half of the spell. To make it more secure, Harry had all three of them, and even Dobby and Winky drop their blood into the fire. That way, anyone wanting to infiltrate their floo network would need blood from all five of them to get in.

Harry, Daphne, and Astoria left Astoria's trunk and made their way into Daphne's. It was mostly the same as her sisters, except the furniture was slightly different and thee was a fully stocked potions lab with an ingredients cabinet that automatically refilled and charged costs to Harry's vault.

Once again, Harry set up the fireplace to link up the private floo network. To make sure that the connection was done properly, Harry threw a handful of floo powder into the fire and called out, "Astoria's Trunk!"

He conjured a snake and threw it into the now green fire. Dobby apparated to Astoria's trunk and brought the snake back, showing that nothing happened to it.

The three of them then took a look inside Harry's trunk and set up the floo there as well. Dobby and Winky helped move a few sets of clothes each into the trunk in case they ever had an emergency.

After lunch, Harry started reading Salazar Slytherin's book on Parselmagic. Harry was a little disappointed that, since he was not a natural parseltongue, he could not perform the branch of magic. He realized that Voldemort did not use any Parselmagic either, so at least he wouldn't have to deal with fighting against unknown spells.

A little bit later, Daphne and Astoria came into the library with a few spell chains that they made.

In the training room, they began working on applying the spell chains. At first, it was very awkward. Not only was it difficult to do the wand movements and say the words at the same time, but they also kept jumbling up the words, as if saying a tongue twister. Surprisingly, Astoria was the first to chain together three spells. Due to her passion of music, she was able to create a rhythm that matched the syllables of the words with the wand movements. It took a few more tries for Harry and Daphne to be able to do the spell chain as well.

They quickly realized that saying spells too quickly would sometimes mess them up even more, so they started to work on non-verbal casting, starting with a simple levitation charm. After many failed attempts, Harry finally was able to lift a book off of a table. He realized that the key to non-verbal casting was believing that it would work. Harry had the two girls close their eyes and cast the spell verbally and then cast the spell non-verbally. Just as he expected, the charm worked. As soon as the girls opened their eyes, the books immediately dropped. Now that they knew that they could do it, the girls had no problem performing the charm non-verbally anymore.

The three of them practiced a while longer, trying out other spells non-verbally, but none that were for fighting. They all took quick showers and met again in the library.

They each found books on their animagus forms and started to get to know everything about their animals.

A while later, an owl arrived with a letter from Neville.

 _Harry,_

 _I convinced Gran to invite Madam Bones to Longbottom Manor tomorrow for tea, so Tonks doesn't have to talk to her about meeting you anymore. Madam Bones will most likely bring her niece, Susan, with her. I think that Susan would be a good ally to have._

 _Neville_

Harry remembered Susan from the DA. She was decent at defense, but he couldn't see her as a fighter. However, Harry trusted Neville's judgment. At the very least, she would have something to contribute. After sending Neville a letter to confirm that he would be there tomorrow, Harry sent a letter to Tonks to tell her that a meeting had already been set up.

A few hours later, Remus came into the library to call them down to dinner. Harry had almost forgotten than Remus was staying with them.

"Where have you been all day?" he asked.

Remus blushed. "I went out..."

"Did you perhaps meet up with a pink haired auror?"

"Dinner's ready."

Harry laughed at Remus's attempt to change the subject. "You can invite her over if you want. She can even live here with us. I'm sure it gets lonely living on her own."

Remus grinned and went to floo Tonks too see if she wanted to come over for dinner.

After dinner, they all retired to the drawing room. Daphne was reading a muggle romance novel, while Astoria read a book on prank spells. Harry, Remus, and Tonks were talking quietly.

"Tonks, you can stay here if you want. I'm sure living alone in a flat can get rather lonely."

"That's okay, Harry. I wouldn't want to impose."

"You wouldn't be at all. We could all use the company, especially a certain werewolf," he said, smirking. "Plus, you could help train us to fight."

Tonks glanced at Remus and nodded. "Okay. How so about I move in tomorrow? I'd need to pack some stuff first."

 **July 6, 1996**

The next morning, Tonks came over with a few shrunken boxes and her trunk. Harry gave her the bedroom next to Remus's, knowing that she would most likely spend most of her time in Remus's room anyway.

After being drilled mercilessly by Tonks all morning, mostly in casting spells with speed and accuracy, the group showered, changed, and flooed to Longbottom Manor.

"Hey, Harry, everyone! Glad you could make it!" greeted Neville. "Madam Bones should be here any second. When she arrives, we can make our way to the drawing room together, where Gran is waiting."

Not even a minute later, the Madam Bones and Susan Bones stepped out of the fireplace. Harry recognized the stern looking woman from his so-called trial from last year.

"Mr. Potter it's a pleasure to meet you. I must say, I've heard a lot of interesting things about you."

"Nice to meet you ma'am. Hello Susan. Thank you for agreeing to meet me. These are my companions, Daphne and Astoria Greengrass, Remus Lupin, and Nymphadora Tonks." Tonks glared at Harry. "There are a lot of things that I have recently discovered that I think you should know about. Susan is welcome to stay."

"I must say. I was more than a little curious when Augusta asked me to meet with you."

"I'm sure you will soon find out why we had to meet in secret."

Neville led the group to the drawing room and introduced them to his grandmother.

"Now that we are all here, Mr. Potter. Could you please explain why my grandson practically begged me to set up a private meeting with the Director of the DMLE for you."

"Madam Longbottom, thank you for having us. I have recently found out many things that involve all of you to some degree. First, I would like you to read my parents' will." Harry slid copies of his parents' will across the coffee table.

Madam Bones read the will and was surprised to find that she was listed as a potential guardian for Harry.

"As you can see, Madam Bones, I could have grown up with Neville or Susan, but Dumbledore left me with my aunt who hated everything magic."

Madam Bones frowned. "Yes. Your parents were good friends of mine. I didn't know that I had been named a guardian, or I would have made sure that you were raised properly. I am truly sorry for not being there for you."

"It's not your fault. You didn't know,"

Harry pulled out his pensieve. "Before I tell you why I really need your help, I want to show you all what has happened to me since I've started Hogwarts."

Harry touched his wand to his temple and pulled out several memories and placed them in the pensieve.

Together, everybody entered the pensieve to watch Harry's memories. He had placed a few from his time with the Dursleys and all the important memories from his five years at Hogwarts. Daphne and Astoria had seen most of the memories, but none of the group had seen everything.

As they exited the pensieve, Daphne hugged Harry, knowing that it was very difficult for him to relive many of those memories. Susan and Neville were looking at Harry with a newfound respect, while all the adults in the room were angry and sad that someone so young had been through so much.

"Why wasn't I informed about any of this?" Madam Bones shouted.

"Because Dumbledore is a manipulative bastard," spat Harry.

Madam Longbottom said, "I'm assuming that by meeting Amelia, you want to pursue legal action against the people who have wronged you."

"Yes. I want everyone to know what kind of person Albus Dumbledore truly is. I'd also like to take down a few people along the way."

"Such as..."

"Ron, Hermione, Mrs. Weasley, Snape, Umbridge, and hopefully the Death Eaters that were at Voldemort's rebirth."

Everyone except for Daphne shuddered at the name.

"It's just a name!" Harry shouted. "At least call him by his real name, Tom Riddle, if you can't say Voldemort."

Madam Bones sighed. "You're right. How are we expected to fight him if we can't even say his name." She now became angry. "The minister pardoned Lucius Malfoy and the other Death Eaters that were captured in the Department of Mysteries, claiming that they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time."

Harry growled. "We have to do something about Fudge."

"Madam Bones, with your help, we can take care of both Dumbledore and the Minister at the next Wizengamot meeting," said Daphne.

Harry let Daphne take over discussing everything with the adults. While they were planning for the next Wizengamot meeting, Astoria was taking the time to get closer to Neville and Harry was getting to know Susan better.

Basically all that he knew about her was that she was in Hufflepuff and friends with Hannah Abbot.

"I'd like to do something to help fight You-Know-Who...I mean...Riddle. But I don't think that I'm willing to fight Death Eaters. I can defend myself, but I wouldn't be comfortable going into a fight," Susan explained.

"You don't have to fight to help us out. As long as you're willing to help, I'm sure we can find something for you to do."

"Like what?"

"Well kind of job do you want to have in the future?"

"I think something with politics. I've learned a lot by just listening to Aunt Amelia."

"we can definitely find something for you to do. When we start actively fighting Voldemort, we'll need to make sure that people see that we're helping end the war, and not heartless killers. Besides, I'm thinking about buying The Daily Prophet. Do you think you would be up for helping manage it?"

"That would be amazing!" Susan squealed. Then nervously, she asked, "Are you sure you want me to have such a huge responsibility? What if I mess up?"

Harry put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I trust you. And you'll have all the help you need."

A house elf popped into the room announcing that lunch was ready.

During the meal, the was a lot of small talk, everyone getting to know one another.

"So, Mr. Potter, what are your plans for after the Wizengamot meeting?"

"Please, Madam Longbottom, call me Harry."

"Then I must insist that you call me Gran, since you were supposed to grow up with Neville."

"And call me Amelia or Aunt Amelia as well."

"Okay... Gran...Aunt Amelia. Daphne, Astoria and I will not be returning to Hogwarts."

"Why not?" Amelia interrupted.

"There's a lot that we need to do to prepare for this war. Right now, Remus and Tonks are helping us in dueling. At Hogwarts, we would be wasting a lot of time that could be spent on training."

"I see. What about your NEWTS?"

"After the war, we'll probably take them with the Ministry," said Daphne.

After lunch, everyone left for their respective homes, agreeing to get together for dinner at Potter Manor in a week.

 **Scene Break**

While Harry and his friends were planning for the next Wizengamot meeting, Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort, was sitting atop his throne the ballroom of Malfoy Manor contemplating what to do next. After the whole Department of Mysteries, he was wary of venturing into the Potter boy's mind again. Returning from the battle, the Dark Lord was barely able to make it to his bed before slipping into a week-long coma.

"Lucius," he hissed. "Tell me. How was a group of teenagers able to defeat some of my best Death Eaters?"

Lucius Malfoy crawled up to his master's throne and kissed the hem of his robes. "M-Master. We were trying to protect the prophecy."

" _Crucio_!" The Dark Lord watched as his servant fell to the ground, screaming. "That is no excuse! Not only did you fail to retrieve the prophecy, but you also got caught. Be thankful that we did not lose anyone, or your punishment would have been much more...severe."

"Now, Lucius, go fetch Draco. We have...business...to discuss."

Lucius Malfoy quickly climbed to his knees, kissed his master's robes again and scampered out of the room. He returned a few minutes later with his son, who strutted into the ballroom with his chest puffed out.

"Leave us, Lucius."

"My lord…"

"I said...Leave."

As the elder Malfoy left the ballroom, Draco wailed up to the Dark Lord's throne and kissed the hem of his robes.

"My lord."

"Young Draco. Do you wish for a spot within my ranks?"

Draco knelt down and bowed his head, barely containing his smirk. "I do, my lord."

"You will train under Bella for the next two weeks. If she reports that you are improving fast enough, then I will allow you to take my mark."

"Thank you my lord." Draco kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes and excited the ballroom.

 **July 10, 1996**

Harry, Daphne and Astoria had fallen into the routine of getting up early every morning to go for a run, practicing battle magic after breakfast, studying other contracts after lunch, and practicing occlumency at night.

In the afternoon, Dobby interrupted Harry while he was studying the Fidelius charm. He found a book in the Potter library that had everything there was to know about the charm.

"Harry Potter, sir. Madam Bones is in the fireplace wanting to talk to yous, sir."

Harry went to drawing room fireplace. One of the cool features about Potter Manor was that a person could receive a fire call from any fireplace. The manor would automatically transfer the cask to the desired fireplace.

"Aunt Amelia. How are you?"

"Hi Harry. I'm doing fine. I remember you saying that two of your friends were going to be learning some healing. I know someone who can teach them discretely. Would you like me to get in contact with her?"

"That would be great. When can we meet her?"

"She's a close friend of mine aims will be joining Susan and I for dinner tonight at Bones Manor. You are welcome to attend with Daphne and Astoria."

"Can I bring Tracey and Ellie? They're the two that want to be healers."

"Sure."

"Thanks, Aunt Amelia."

When Amelia ended the floo call, Harry quickly called Tracey and Ellie and invited them over for the afternoon and dinner at the Bones's.

As soon as the two friends arrived, Tracey dragged Daphne off for some girl talk while Ellie did the same with Astoria.

Harry found that both girls had already finished the books that they had copied and invited them to copy any books that they wanted or borrow the books that had copyright charms.

An hour before dinner, Astoria told everyone that she would not be going to dinner with them. Neville was going to take her out to dinner. Harry was glad that Remus and Tonks would be by themselves for dinner. He felt that they needed some time alone.

"Tori. I want you to take an emergency portkey and go in disguise, since you'll be going to a magical restaurant."

Astoria frowned.

"I know it seems like too much, but, please. You're like my little sister and I don't want anything to happen to you."

She was touched that Harry considered her a sister because she was slowly seeing him as an older brother. Astoria hugged Harry tightly. "Thanks, big brother."

Astoria took the ring that she wore off her fiber and handed it to Harry. It was the ring that Daphne gave her for her eleventh birthday. Since their parents showed very little emotion to them, the sisters were much closer than other siblings.

" _Portus_ _Permanent_." Harry turned her ring into a permanent portkey. "Here. This will take you to the entrance hall here. The wards will only allow someone that's keyed to the wards."

Astoria hugged Harry again. When Neville arrived, he greeted everyone briefly and kissed Astoria on the cheek. Ignoring the whistles and catcalls of the others, they stepped into the fireplace and were whisked off to their destination.

After Astoria left, the group flooed to Bones Manor where they were greeted with Susan, Amelia, and another middle aged woman.

"Welcome to Bones Manor. Hello Harry, Daphne. And you must be Tracey and Eleanor. You recognize Susan from Hogwarts? This is my friend Sarah Jones. She is a private healer."

The group got to know each other during dinner. Susan was surprised that Harry was actually a lot smarter than he let on. The two adults were impressed by all of the teens.

After dinner, they retired to the drawing room, where the real talk began.

"So Amelia tells me that you two want to learn about healing."

"Yeah. Harry has allowed us access to his library and we've been reading up on some healing techniques," Tracey said.

"What books have you read so far?"

Harry called Dobby to bring the books that the girls had just returned to the Slytherin library that he had set up.

Looking at the authors of the books, Sarah gasped. "How did you get your hands on some books written by Salazar Slytherin?"

Harry simply replied, "It's a long story."

"Tracey, Eleanor, I am willing to teach you healing three days a week, if you promise to practice and do the homework that I assign."

The two girls eagerly nodded.

"Great. I'll get my hands on two training dummies for you to use. Do you have a place where we can meet for the lessons?"

"You can use Potter Manor. I'll add you to the wards tomorrow. I'll cover any tuition or expenses," said Harry

Before either Tracey or Eleanor could protest, Sarah said, "That's okay. I'll call it even if you let me borrow some of the rare books you have on healing."

Harry grinned. "No problem." His face then turned serious. "I'm sorry to ask this, but could you give an oath that you won't betray our secrets? I don't want anyone finding out where we are and what we're doing."

"I completely understand. I, Sarah Rachel Jones, swear on my life and magic not to betray the secrets of Harry Potter or his friends."

"Thank you."

"I'm glad that I can do something to help stop You-Know-Who."

"Tom Riddle. That's his real name. Fear of the name only increases fear in the thing itself. It's about the only thing that Dumbledore got right."

"Huh?"

"You'll understand in a few days."

"I'll take your word for it. Tracey, Ellie. Let's do every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 9 to 12?"

Both girls nodded.

"Great. I'll see you Wednesday morning."

Before leaving, Daphne made plans for Amelia and Susan to come over for dinner the day before the Wizengamot meeting to make last minute plans. Harry actually knew very little about what they were planning, but knew something big was going to happen.

Right before they left, Daphne asked, "Sarah, are you related to Gwenog Jones?"

"She's my cousin."

Daphne grinned.

Returning home, Harry and Daphne were relieved to find Astoria in the kitchen with Remus and Tonks chasing over cups of hot chocolate.

 **July 12, 1996**

After breakfast, Harry had Dobby take every book on healing that he owned and put them in a room that he had cleaned up for Tracey and Ellie's lessons. He had Dobby buy a pair of operating tables with lights and everything. Daphne carved runes into the lights so that everything could work in the magical environment.

Half an hour later, when Harry showed Tracey, Ellie, and Sarah their training room, all the of their jaws dropped.

"Harry! This is amazing!"

"It's nothing."

"No, Harry. St. Mungo's doesn't even have anything like this."

"Really?"

"Yeah. It's just like the hospital wing at Hogwarts, except many of the beds are in individual rooms. The healers just operate on patients right on the bed. With an actual operating table, it will be much easier to see what needs healing."

"Oh..."

Harry left them and headed to the training room to continue working on his fighting skills. Some days Remus would have them do drills, such as shooting spells at moving targets. Other times, they dueled each other.

After Harry's exit, Sarah pulled a shrunken case from her pocket and returned it to its original size. Opening the case, she pulled out a human skeleton and a fake body.

"These are training dummies that all healers practice on. The skeleton is for practicing mending bones and recognizing when it's better to just give a patient Skele-Gro. I will be casting bone breaking curses on it for you to practice healing. The body is for studying everything else, from cuts to sprained ankles to dark curses. The body can simulate most wounds."

Sarah casted several cutting curses on the body and began training the two girls in the art of healing.

Back in the training room, Harry was wondering if they could use muggle guns in battle. The Death Eaters probably had no idea what guns were and wouldn't see them as a threat. He decided to go to Gringotts after lunch to talk to Riptooth about getting guns.

Harry, Daphne, and Astoria finished their morning training just as Tracey and Ellie's healer lesson ended.

"Why don't you three stay for lunch?"

"That's okay, Harry. I don't want to intrude," replied Sarah.

"No. I insist. We're all friends here."

During lunch, Harry reflected on how much his life had changed in the past two weeks. He finally had a family that loved him. Now that he was out from under Dumbledore's control, Harry was truly happy for the first time in his life. Being with Daphne, he could almost forget about the war that was going on. Harry knew how hard Daphne was working to prepare for the Wizengamot meeting and he wanted to do something special for her.

"So how are your parents taking it that you're getting healing lessons?" Harry asked Tracey and Ellie.

Tracey looked nervous. "They think I'm at Blaise's."

"I just told my parent's that I was going out," said Ellie.

Harry frowned. "Would your parents be against you studying healing? Or against the helping our side of the war?"

"Harry. Tracey's father is a muggleborn and Ellie's father is a muggle. They're probably scared of what might happen," injected Daphne.

The two girls in question merely nodded.

"Hm... do you think that they would agree to have dinner with us tonight? I'm sure we could invite the Bones and the Longbottoms. It might be better to have some more adults to talk to. Susan, could you come back as well?"

"After that lunch, I don't think I'd be able to turn down a Winky-made meal even if I wanted to," she teased. "I'd be happy to come."

Tracey's and Ellie flooed home to talk to their parents, who both agreed to come for dinner. Astoria then called Neville who said that he and Gran would be there while Harry called Amelia who was also happy to join them. Harry asked Winky if she could make dinner for sixteen. The little house elf was so happy that the immediately burst into tears. Harry had no idea how to comfort her, but luckily, she quickly apparated away.

After their guests returned home, Astoria took Harry's hand and led him to the potions lab and handed him a dark red potion.

"Drink up."

"What is it?"

"You'll love it. I promise."

Harry trusted Astoria, so he informed the vial and drank the potion. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then his eyes started itching. The itching grew worse until he felt like his eyes were burning.

"Bloody hell! What did you give me?" Harry yelled while covering his eyes with his palms.

"Oh, bugger! I forgot that it was supposed to hurt. It'll go away soon. I promise."

A few minutes later, the pain subsided. Harry removed his hands from his face and tried opening his eyes but all he saw was black.

"Give it a few more minutes."

Harry waited. Slowly his vision returned, but was very blurry.

Astoria took off his glasses for him and suddenly hits vision was perfect.

"Ta da! Now you don't need glasses anymore." Astoria conjured a mirror for Harry to see himself. "You have beautiful eyes, big brother."

Harry took a look at his reflection and smiled. He pulled Astoria into a tight hug. "I love you little sister."

Astoria sniffled. Daphne was the only other person who had ever said that they loved her. Astoria hugged him back for all she was worth. She then grabbed his hand and dragged him to Daphne's lab, a room that she had picked for her to work quietly in. Harry barely kept up with Astoria as she pulled him through the halls of the manor.

Bursting into the room, they surprised Daphne, causing her to fall out of her chair. Astoria laughed at her sisters gobsmacked face.

Astoria simply said, "I gave him the potion," and left.

Daphne smiled up at Harry from her spot on the ground. Harry grinned back and helped her to her feet.

"You have beautiful eyes."

Harry pulled her into a passionate kiss. "And you're beautiful."

The two of them snogged for a while before Harry left Daphne to focus on whatever runes stuff that she was studying.

Harry went into the first floor powder room and stood in front of the mirror. He pulled out his Holly wand and changed his appearance so that he was unrecognizable and applied some muggle makeup to cover his scar. Satisfied with his disguise, Harry went to the nearest floor and stepped into the fire, shouting, "Gringotts."

Thrown into the lobby of the bank, Harry tumbled a few times before finally coming to a stop on his back. Groaning, Harry looked up and was greeted with a goblin grinning down at him, which was actually very scary.

"Mr. Potter. That may have been one of the worst floor exits I have ever seen."

"I'm glad you found that amusing, Griphook."

The goblin chuckled and waited for Harry to get on his feet. "How can Gringotts help you today, Mr. Potter?"

"Can we talk somewhere more private?"

Griphook led Harry to a meeting room, where they took seats on opposite sides of a table.

"First off, how did you know it was me?"

"Ahh, Mr. Potter…"

"Please call me Harry. Mr. Potter sounds like I'm going to get a detention," Harry joked.

Griphook chuckled as well. "We goblins are able to sense magical signatures, which makes us so suitable for protecting money and curse-breaking."

"I guess that makes sense," said Harry thoughtfully. "I was wondering if you could help me purchase some muggle weapons."

"Guns?"

"Yes."

"Mr. Potter this is highly unusual. Gringotts usually only deals with Estate and Finance issues, not retail."

"I can't think of any other way that I would be able to get my hands on military-grade items," said Harry. "I can give you a thousand galleons for your troubles."

Suddenly Griphook was much more interested. "What type of guns and how many do you need?"

"Uh...How about 20 pistols? maybe 5 assault rifles, and two sniper rifles? And I'll need plenty of ammunition as well."

Griphook looked at the young boy, no man, in front of him. If anybody else had asked for these weapons, Griphook would have been very cautious. But he trusted Harry Potter and knew what the weapons were going to be used for.

"Very Well. They will be in your personal vault in two days."

Harry shook the goblin's hand. "Thank you, Griphook."

"Will that be all?"

"Um...actually, there is something else. Could you buy the Daily Prophet for me? Or at least a controlling interest?"

"I will speak with the owners and try to purchase the newspaper for you. I will send you a missive when it is done."

"Thank you, Griphook," said Harry, giving the goblin a short bow.

As Harry exited the bank, Griphook shook his head and muttered, "He doesn't even know that he treats us with ten times the respect of any other wizard."

Arriving home, Harry found his girlfriend and 'sister' experimenting with potions.

"So how was Gringotts?" asked Astoria

"Great," Harry answered, knowing that he was just adding fuel to her curiosity.

"What'd you do there?"

Harry smirked. "Not telling."

"Awww c'mon Harry," whined Astoria, giving him puppy dog eyes.

Harry kissed her on the cheek and whispered in her ear, "It's a surprise."

Astoria just pouted some more.

Harry came up behind Daphne, who was concentrating on stirring a potion, and hugged her from behind.

"What's that?"

"Just brewing some more healing potions to keep in stock. Oh yeah, Tracey called. She wanted to know if she could bring Blaise. Can you add him to the wards?"

"Sure."

Harry waited for Daphne to finish up before they all made their way to the entrance hall to add Blaise's name to the ward book. While waiting around, the three of them chatted about what was going to happen after the Wizengamot meeting.

"The way I see it, we have more than enough evidence to send Dumbledore to Azkaban ten times over. Violating the will of the Lord of an Ancient and Most Noble House. Neglect of the heir of an Ancient and Most Noble House. Accessory to abuse to the heir of an Ancient and Most Noble House. Theft from an Ancient and Most Noble House. Endangering about 500 minors, three times. Illegally imprisoning the heir of an Ancient and Most Noble House. And prevention of justice.

Harry's jaw dropped. "Wow. That's a lot. But knowing him, he'll probably find a way to get out of it."

Astoria nodded. "He can either call his phoenix to escape, use a portkey, or blackmail the Wizengamot, most likely the last, as he'll want to keep at least some of his positions."

"Yeah. That's what Aunt Amelia and I think," agreed Daphne. "We have a plan," she said, smirking.

"Well after the Saturday, I think we will need to step up the training. Voldy has been very quiet recently, but we all know that the attacks are going to step up again."

"Are we going to fight them?"

"Eventually. We're not ready yet. The only reason we didn't die in the ministry was because of luck. Plus we have to prepare for things."

"Like what?" asked Astoria.

"What happens if we need to take prisoners? What about injured people? How will we know when attacks happen? Can we predict future attacks?"

"Wow."

"Yeah. Plus we can't bring people back to the manor if they're not keyed to the wards. I was thinking about setting up one of my properties as an in-between house of sorts. We can portkey people there and make sure that they're not death eaters, then figure out what to do next. We will have to set up a medical center somewhere as well."

"Let's figure that out next week," said Daphne.

"Yeah, and we need to get Ginny and the twins some training. We can't risk alerting Mrs. Weasley, so we have to wait till after the Wizengamot meeting to get them started."

Five minutes to six, Tracey's parents stepped through the floo, followed immediately by Tracey and Blaise. Tracey had a nervous look on her face.

"Tracey! Where the hell are we?" shouted Mrs. Davis. Turning towards Tracey without looking around first.

Harry coughed behind the woman's back.

Mrs. Davis spun around and her jaw dropped. She stared at the young man in front of her, not even noticing Daphne and Astoria. "Harry Potter?"

Harry nodded.

The woman back turned around and glared at her daughter. "Care to explain why Harry Potter is behind me?"

"Well... You know how Daphne's parents have always been neutral?" Mrs. Davis nodded. "Well recently, they've joined the Dark Lord."

Both Davis parents gasped. Mr. Davis looked pale. Tracey and Daphne's mothers had been friends in Hogwarts, so the two families were friendly with each other. However, Brian Davis was a muggleborn, which put their entire family in danger.

Reconnoitering himself, Mr. Davis said, "I can see how that would be an issue for you in Slytherin, and we'll talk about that later, but what does that have to do with Harry Potter?"

"I can answer that," said Daphne.

Brian and Isabelle Davis turned around to see Daphne and Astoria standing next to Harry. The two Davis parents looked unsure of themselves.

Tracey said from behind them, "You know, they're not like their parents." The two girls in question nodded their heads.

Tracey's parents gave them each a hug and told them to explain. Just as Daphne was about to speak, the fireplace flared up and Ellie arrived with her parents.

"Hello. I'm Josh and this is my wife Rebecca. We're Eleanor's parents." introduced Ellie's father. "Good to see you, Astoria, Daphne. And you must be Harry Potter. My wife almost fainted when Ellie told us you had invited us for dinner. Apparently you're famous in your world."

"Yeah, I sort of am."

"Becca and Elle explained to me your story. I'm sorry for your loss."

"Thank you."

"So what can we do for you?"

"Well we just about to tell Tracey's parents, but since we're expecting more guests, why don't we wait for everyone to arrive and then we'll explain why we wanted to meet with you," said Harry.

After everyone had arrived, they all made their way into the dining room, where Remus and Tonks were introduced to the guests.

Once dinner was served, Harry began explaining everything. "Well the short story is that I grew up with my aunt and uncle who hated me, so I ran away this summer. Daphne and I have had a secret friendship since third year, and when she found out that her parents became Death Eaters, her and Astoria came with me. We found out that Dumbledore and my 'friends' have been stealing money from my vaults, so we're creating a third faction in this war."

"So you three live here by yourselves?" questioned Mrs. Madley.

"No. Well that's what we were originally planned to do, but Remus and Tonks live with us now."

"I still don't see how this affects of daughter," Mr. Davis stated.

"Well we talked to Tracey and Ellie, and they wanted to help do something about Voldemort."

All the Davis's and the two magical Madleys shuddered.

"I will not allow my daughter to put herself in danger fighting psychopaths!" shouted Mrs. Madley. Mr. Madley and the Davis parents nodded their heads in agreement.

"And she won't," said Daphne firmly.

"And this is why you are all here," said Harry. "Tracey and Ellie both want to become healers, so Sarah has agreed to teach them."

"We actually had our first lesson this morning," said Sarah. Tracey and Ellie both looked down embarrassed at being caught lying about where they were this morning. Sarah continued, "Both girls show a lot of promise and I would be happy to continue teaching them three times a week. The training I have planned is mostly the same as training to be a healer at St. Mungo's, but focusing more on healing injuries that may happen in a magical battle."

Mr. Madley turned to Ellie and asked, "Is this what you want to do?"

Ellie nodded.

Josh Madley shared a glance with his wife and said, "Then we'll support you."

Ellie smiled and hugged her parents.

Tracey looked at her peers with pleading eyes.

"Tracey. Do you understand the risks?" asked Mrs. Davis. "By taking these lessons, you are choosing a side in this war and putting our family in danger."

"With all due respect, ma'am," said Harry. "Your family already is a target. So far, Lord Greengrass has not noticed that his daughter is missing. Once he realizes, your family will be the first place he searches. With your husband being a muggleborn, you already are in an immense amount of danger."

"One of the only reasons why you have been safe so far was because of your relationship with my family. Now that my parents have joined the Dark Lord, there is nothing stopping them from going after you," added Daphne.

"Then what do you propose we do?" asked Mr. Davis angrily.

"Well, sir. You could upgrade your wards or go into hiding. Once Voldemort takes over the ministry, which we cannot stop, you will not be able to go anywhere safely."

Everyone gasped at what Harry said. "What do you mean? How do you know that he will take over the ministry?" asked Amelia.

"Voldemort wants to control people. How better to control people than to take over the government?" explained Harry. "Think about it. It's impossible for a muggleborn and very difficult for a half-blood to get a good job at the ministry. Why? Because all the blood supremacists control the Ministry. Every minister and department head has been a pureblood. Voldemort could take control anytime he wanted."

"Then why doesn't he take it now?" asked Mr. Madley.

"I don't know for sure, but I think that he wanted to build his army before people knew that he was back. Also, right now, people think that the ministry is doing something. That makes them feel somewhat safe. People who feel safe take less precautions and make them easier targets."

The adults could see that he was right.

"Alright. Tracey, you can continue these healing lessons," said Mr. Davis. "I'm proud of you for standing up for what you believe in."

"If you would like, you may come to our next lesson to see what your daughters are learning," said Sarah to the two sets of parents.

"We would like that."

"Now, Harry," said Augusta Longbottom. "What can be done to protect the ministry?"

"Nothing. We can only prepare and help protect as many people as possible. When Voldemort takes control, the ministry will be his until the end of the war. We can only hope to reform the government after the war."

"That means we will have to secretly find people who will need protection and give them portkeys."

"Yes. This will have to be after the Wizengamot meeting, though. I plan on visiting all of my properties in Britain to set up portkey locations and safe houses."

"Wow. I'm impressed. It seems like you have a good plan," complimented Mrs. Madley. She took a look around, just noticing how large the manor really was.

"Thanks. I'd hate to ask this, but could all of you give magical oaths that you will not willingly reveal what you have learned today and that you will not willingly give away our secrets?" asked Harry. "My parents were betrayed by a close friend. You can never be too careful."

After the four parents and Blaise gave their oaths, the guests started returning home. Made the parents' wedding rings all into portkeys to the entrance hall at Potter Manor. He did the same with Augustan and Amelia's head of house rings and Neville and Susan's DA coins, which they always kept with them. Since Tracey, Blaise, and Ellie didn't have anything that they always kept with them, Harry made them all DA coins. Even though Hermione came up with the idea of conjuring coins and connecting them with Protean charms, Harry was the one that actually made them because he was the only one powerful enough to actually do the advanced spellwork.

"Mr and Mrs. Davis. Could you hang back for a second?" asked Daphne.

"Sure what's the matter?"

"Well... Now that Voldemort is back, and I won't be at Hogwarts with Tracey, she's not exactly safe there anymore.

"What do you mean?"

"Most of the Slytherin's right now are junior Death Eaters, which means three they've probably been practicing the unforgivables for a while now and they would hesitate to... torture or... have their way with Tracey."

Tracey's parents looked frightened. "Would that happen?"

Tracey's nodded. "Daphne and I have always stuck together. Now that she's not going to Hogwarts anymore, I can't either."

"What about your education?" asked Mrs. Davis.

"She can come over every day and study with us. Although we will be mostly focusing on DADA, we will be studying a lot of charms and transfiguration that will be on the NEWTs. Daphne and Astoria are already at NEWT level potions, I think," said Harry, glancing at the two girls, who nodded back. "Plus, I'm pretty sure Remus got NEWTs in every subject except for divination and creatures."

Mr. Davis scoffed. "If our kids could learn everything on their own, then why would we send them to Hogwarts at all?"

"With all due respect, sir, this is a matter of Tracey's safety. How about this? Come over tomorrow morning at 9. If you can beat me in a one-on-one duel, then I won't argue with you about anything regarding Tracey. If I win, then Tracey studies with us instead of going to Hogwarts."

Tracey looked at her friends nervously. Brian Davis glared down at Harry. "I'll be there," he said, and quickly flooed home. Mrs. Davis quickly followed her husband.

"Sorry about my dad," apologized Tracey. "I think that he's been a bit stressed recently. Like the rest of Britain, he didn't want to believe that the Dark Lord is back. Now he's under a lot of stress because he's afraid what his being a muggleborn will mean to our family."

Daphne hugged her best friend. "We understand."

"Do you think Harry will win?"

"Yes."

Tracey sighed. "I want Harry to win so that I can study with you, but I also don't want dad to be embarrassed."

"Harry will make it quick, just enough to prove his point. And even if Harry does lose, he won't allow you to put yourself in danger anyway."

While the girls were talking, Blaise approached Harry.

"Potter."

"Zabini," Harry said neutrally.

"I want in."

"Huh?"

"I'm a decent duelist, and I want to do something. I can be a spy in Slytherin for you."

"Why the sudden interest?"

"I love Tracey. I haven't told her yet, but I do love her. If she's doing something to help, I want to help as well."

Harry smiled slightly at his admission. "Tell me... How do you feel about Voldemort's agenda?"

"Muggleborns and muggle-raised should be educated about the magical world before they are introduced into our society. The only problem I have against them is when they try to change our society to fit what they and the muggle world believe, rather than adapt to our society. It's like a British person going to France and trying to force the French to speak English."

Harry thought about what he said and realized that Blaise was right. Hermione tried to free house elves when they didn't want to be freed and even need a master to bond with in order to survive.

"I agree. I was muggle-raised myself, and Daphne needed to teach me a lot of stuff about the magical world that I should have already known before Hogwarts," said Harry. "Tell you what. Why don't you come over with Tracey, and we'll get you started. I'm going to warn you right now. We will be testing you with veritaserum and then asking you for another oath."

Blaise grinned. "Constant vigilance. I like it. Professor Moody would be proud."

Harry laughed and shook the other boy's hand. He was beginning to like Blaise and thought that he would be a good friend to have. Plus, Harry was feeling a little overwhelmed by all the girls that were always around. It was him and Neville against Daphne, Astoria, Susan, Tracey, and Ellie.

 **July 13, 1996**

The next morning, Daphne and Astoria began training with Remus while Harry waited for the Davis's and Blaise to arrive. Since Harry would be missing most odd the morning's training, Remus was going to teach the girls how to cast the Patronus Charm.

"Welcome back to Potter Manor," greeted Harry when the guests arrived.

Harry led them to the training room, where Remus was instructing Daphne and Astoria on one side.

Harry turned to a panel on the wall and pressed a rune, creating a shield that split the room in two, with Harry and Mr. Davis on one side and everyone else on the other. Daphne and Astoria paused their training and came over to watch.

"Shall we do this?"

Brian Davis merely grunted in response and casted a stunner. As the spell rushed towards an unmoving Harry, he felt confident and relaxed his wand arm. At the last second, Harry spun out of the way and fired back with a disarming charm that was too fast to block.

Harry returned his wand, but Mr. Davis just said, "Again."

When Harry was a good distance away, the man began attacking, this time he casted a succession of spells.

"Stupify! Reducto! Expelliarmus! Furnunculus! Stupify! Impedimenta!"

Harry easily dodged all the spells. " _Aguamenti!_ "

Brian Davis ignored the water. " _Petrificus Totalus!_ "

" _Glacius! Reducto!_ " Harry casted the Reducto right after the freezing spell so that Mr. Davis wouldn't have time to do anything about the ice.

" _Protego!_ "

The impact of Harry's reducto pushed Mr. Davis backwards on the ice, where he lost balance and slipped.

" _Expelliarmus!_ "

Mr. Davis lost his wand again.

Harry turned off the shield that split the room and returned the man's wand back to him.

Tracey came and gave her father a hug and whispered something in his ear. Mrs. Davis talked to her husband for a minute and then walked up to Harry.

"Lord Potter. I apologize for my husband's behavior. He has been under a great amount of stress. However, we agree that Tracey is no longer safe at Hogwarts and that she would benefit from studying with you, Daphne, and Astoria."

"Please call me Harry. I'm sorry it had to come to this. Tracey means a lot to Daphne, and Daphne means a lot to me, so I'd do anything to take care of your daughter. I also think of her as a good friend."

"Very well Harry. I can see that my daughter will be in good hands."

"You may stay if you wish. We are going to train until lunch. Blaise will be joining us as well."

The Davis's decided to hang around to watch their training.

"Let's get Blaise sorted out first."

Astoria administered the veritaserum and Daphne did the standard questioning, which he passed flawlessly.

Blaise joined Daphne and Astoria in learning how to cast the Patronus Charm while Harry and Remus helped. So far, Daphne and Astoria could only produce weak mists. Tracey figured that learning how to cast a patronus would be useful, so she joined in as well.

"What memory are you using?" asked Harry.

"When I first saw Hogwarts," replied Daphne.

"I made that mistake too. I tried using my first time on a broom. You need something stronger to produce a corporeal patronus. You don't exactly need to think about a happy memory. It's more about feeling happy."

Daphne took a second to think about something that made her really happy. She thought about the first time that Harry kissed her. " _Expecto_ _Patronum_!"

This time a slightly stronger mist came out. It swirled for a bit, as if trying to take a shape, but then faded away. Daphne sighed dejectedly.

"You're doing great. It took me weeks to be able to do that. Just keep at it."

Harry turned towards Blaise who was doing rather well. "Blaise. Great job. Let the happy feeling overwhelm you, and then cast the spell."

Blaise closed his eyes and imagined Tracey smiling at him. He felt all of his love for Tracey and roared, " _Expecto_ _Patronum_!"

A brilliant cobra shot out of the end of his wand and slithered around the room, before returning to Blaise. After a moment, he let it disappear.

Tracey gave Blaise a peck on the cheek and asked him for help.

Harry went back over to Daphne and Astoria to help them. Daphne's patronus was almost fully corporeal. From what he could tell, it was going to have four legs.

"What do you think about when you cast your patronus?" asked Astoria.

"I used to think of my 'best friends', but now, I imagine you and Daphne, my sister and my girlfriend."

Astoria thought about who she felt happy with. First was her sister, then Harry, followed by Ellie. Lastly, Neville's face popped into her mind, causing her to blush. She looked around, hoping nobody noticed, but, unfortunately for her, Harry was giving her an amused grin.

Astoria stuck out her tongue at him and closed her eyes, imagining the most important people in her life. " _Expecto_ _Patronum_!"

A white golden retriever lept out of Astoria's wand and bound across the training room. It came back and nuzzled itself against Astoria's leg. A few seconds later, a doe joined Astoria's dog and the two patronuses leapt around the room.

Harry turned towards Daphne and gave her a toe-curling kiss. Pulling away, he leaned his forehead against hers, forgetting about their audience. "A doe," he breathed out.

A cough interrupted their moment. The two turned around to see everyone standing around awkwardly, trying not to intrude.

Once Tracey's bear patronus made an appearance, the group moved onto dueling. Each person took a turn dueling Blaise to give them an idea of how skilled he was. In the end, Blaise was about the same level as Astoria. He would have probably been better than the younger girl, but she had been working hard for the last few weeks.

The group split up once again. Blaise, Daphne, and Astoria took turns dueling each other while the third made observations and suggestions. Harry and Remus moved to the other side of the room and began their own duel. Remus was still a little better than Harry, but Harry was quickly catching up. Harry was now able to use spell chains efficiently and incorporated some transfiguration into his dueling.

Mr. Davis, watching Harry duel Remus, realized that he really was no match for Harry Potter. Despite being only 15 years old, Harry would probably be able to beat most adults in a fair fight.

Harry invited everyone to stay for lunch. The Davis parents returned home after lunch, but Tracey and Blaise stayed behind.

Harry turned to the couple, "Do you want me to take the tracking charms off of you wands?"

BLaise laughed. "A week ago, I would have never expected Gryffindor's Golden Boy to do something so 'bad'."

Harry removed the ministry tracking charms from their wands. At the manor, there was too much magic that interfered with the ministry tracker, but they needed the charm removed if they wanted to do magic elsewhere.

"So far, we've been getting around using portkeys, but it's really not as efficient as apparating, so Remus is going to teach us how to apparate today."

Remus led them out the back of the estate and across the field. The group trekked across the field and a good mile into the woods, where the estate's wards ended. Walking a little further, they came to a clearing.

"So the ministry teaches apparition by saying that you need the three D's: Destination, Determination, and Deliberation. However, the easiest way to learn to apparate is just to wish for it. Apparition is all about intent. Just clearly imagine where you want to be and 'want' to be there. Imagine yourself there and push your magic to do your bidding. Be sure to imagine ALL of yourself at your destination. Many people splinch themselves when learning because they fail to picture everything there."

Remus flicked his wand a few times and conjured hoops that were just big enough to stand in. He placed them in two rows.

"Now if all of you could stand in a ring on this side. I want you all to try to apparate to the hoop that's across from you."

Each of the teens closed their eyes and concentrated on themselves appearing in their opposite hoops. With a loud crack, Harry appeared at his destination. Harry's success momentarily distracted the others.

"Well done, Harry. Well done," applauded Remus.

The others redoubled their efforts and eventually were all able to apparate as well. The only setback was when Astoria lost the last inch of her hair.

"That's okay. You're doing very well," Remus reassured her. "One of the reasons why the ministry makes people wait until they are sixteen to learn how to apparate is because your magic is still a little unstable. The fact that you are doing so well is already amazing."

Astoria tried again and this time succeeded. The group continued practicing apparating back and forth for the next ten minutes.

"Is there a way to get rid of the sound?" asked Harry. The others paused to listen to Remus.

"Well the reason why apparating makes a loud noise is because, when you apparate, your magic is squeezing you and essentially throwing you to your destination. Then your magic suddenly has to stop your momentum. The further you apparate, the more momentum your body gains, so the louder the arrival noise. Also, when you apparate, your magic compresses you so that you can move faster, which causes the the squeezing feeling when you're moving. Now, when you arrive at your destination, your magic basically explodes, returning you back to your normal size. It's like blowing too much air into a balloon. That's the loud noise that happens," Remus explained. "Now, to get rid of the sound, you need to slow down your magic as you arrive so that you have less momentum, and then you have to slow down how fast our body expands. That takes a lot of practice and control in order to do this."

The group practiced a little longer, trying to apparate as quietly as they could.

"Alright. Let's head in. Next time, we'll work on using apparition in combat," Remus said, leading everyone back to the manor.

Remus was looking pale, since the full moon was in a few days, so he went to take a nap. Meanwhile, Daphne was showing Tracey how to make muggle electronics work in magical places. Astoria found one of Slytherin's potions books and decided to try brewing some of his creations.

"So, Blaise," Harry said, sitting down in the library with the other boy. "Do your parents know about you wanting to help fight Voldemort?"

"My mum has remarried seven times and currently lives with her newest husband in Spain. She lets me stay at Zabini Manor, which was my dad's. She's not around much and basically lets me do whatever I want."

"Oh...I guess that's better than living with people who don't want you," said Harry softly. "Any skills you're really good at?"

"I've always been good at the mind arts. I can modify memories rather well and I'm a natural occlumens and legilimens."

"Really?" asked Harry. "I'm a natural occlumens myself, but I've just recently started working on my shields."

"Would you like me to take a look?"

Harry nodded, so Blaise picked up his wand and casted, " _legilimens_."

Just like when Daphne tested his shields, Blaise used his conscious to prod at Harry's shield. After testing the strength of the outside shield, Blaise gently nudged Harry's consciousness, asking for entrance. Harry allowed Blaise into his mindscape. Blaise saw that he was standing outside a wall with a gate that led to Potter Manor. After testing the defenses, Blaise pulled out of Harry's mind.

"You're doing very well for just starting. Your outer shields are very strong, most likely because of the immense amount of power you wield. Your inner defenses are good for now, but if you want to stand up to anyone that's stronger, you'll need a lot more work."

"From what I've gathered, inner defenses are almost all based on creativity, so if I think of something that nobody can get through, then wouldn't my mind be safe from anything?"

"That's partially correct. Developing defenses that trick your opponents requires a lot of cunning, which is why Slytherins excel so easily at the art. However, maintaining difficult traps takes a lot of power. The best occlumens are both cunning and powerful, which is why people say that the Dark Lord is the best Legilimens and Occlumens. He can create the best traps that require the least amount of power to uphold. Right now what you have is mainly power. You have enough magic reserves that you do not even feel your defenses drawing on your power. I suggest creating something of a trigger, so that your inner defenses are dormant until your outer shields fall."

Harry realized that a lot of what the other boy said made sense. He was sometimes able to kick Snape out of his mind just by sheer will power. He must have been able to pour enough power into his outer shield to kick the greasy bastard out.

Blaise and Tracey both left before dinner. At night, Harry explained to Daphne and Astoria what he learned from Blaise.

"That makes sense," said Astoria. "The Zabini family has been known for their skills in mind magic. Many of his ancestors were top obliviators for the Ministry."

They spent the night brainstorming different mental defenses that they could utilize that would be both effective and efficient.

 **July 14, 1996**

After the morning run and breakfast, Daphne announced that the entire day would be dedicated to preparing for tomorrow, the Wizengamot meeting.

Harry decided that it would be a good time to pick up the guns that griphook ordered for him. He applied his glamours and apparated to one of Diagon Alley's apparition points, avoiding floo travel. Harry swiftly made his way to the goblin bank and was escorted to his personal vault.

Inside he found stacks of black cases in three piles. He walked over to the pile of small cases and opened the one on top. Inside he found a pistol with three empty magazines, along with an instruction booklet on how to use the gun. Harry then opened a case with an assault rifle and a case with a sniper rifle. Harry noticed a wooden crate next to the guns. He pried open the top to find boxes of ammunition labeled with their caliber sizes. Satisfied, Harry shrunk everything and casted a feather-light on them and put them in his pocket.

Back in the Gringotts lobby, Harry stopped by Griphook's desk and thanked him for purchasing the weapons.

"Mr. Potter, I have negotiated with the owners of the Daily Prophet. They have agreed to a value of six million galleons. Is this rate acceptable?"

"Yes. How long will it take for my vaults to gain back that money through interest?"

"Five months and three weeks."

"Very well. Thank you again," Harry said as he exited the bank and made his way to an apparition spot and returned home.

Harry dropped off the weapons cases in a corner of the training room and went to find everyone in the drawing room. The Bones's and Longbottoms were already there.

Daphne clapped her hands together. "Well now that the young lord has arrived, we may get started," she teased.

Everyone laughed. Harry pecked her on the cheek and took a seat next to her. "So do I finally get to find out what you have planned?"

"Yup."

For the next few hours until lunch, the group went over everybody's role for the Wizengamot meeting.

Everyone, once again, was invited to stay during lunch. Harry always wanted to have a large family, and he enjoyed sharing his home with his friends until he could start a family of his own.

Harry was surprised when Tracey, Ellie, and Sarah joined them for lunch again, but remembered that they had another lesson this morning.

During lunch, Dobby arrived with a stack of letters. "Harry Potter, sir. Dobby is directing yous mail to bad muggle house so headmaster be thinking yous still living there. Yous be having mail."

Harry thanked the house elf and started sorting through the letters. There were a couple from Ron and Hermione each that made him start to get angry, but he set them aside.

He unsealed a letter from Gringotts.

 _Lord Potter,_

 _Your purchase of the Daily Prophet has been finalized for the price of six million galleons. Your purchase was made anonymously and the paperwork for ownership of the newspaper has been filed and stored in the Potter Family Portfolio._

 _Riptooth_

 _Account Manager for the Ancient and_

 _Most Noble Houses of Potter and Black._

Upon reading the letter, Harry grinned and passed it over to Susan.

"Yes!" she shouted, pumping her fist into the air.

"What is it?" asked Remus

"Harry bought the Daily Prophet."

"Great! Now we can finally get rid of the bitch, Rita Skeeter," said Astoria.

"Young lady!" scolded Madam Longbottom.

Amelia chuckled and said, "I wouldn't mind knocking her down a peg myself. And I think it was a good idea to buy the Prophet. Looks like you kids think of everything."

"Well I've put Susan in charge of publicity, so she can do whatever she wants with Skeeter."

"I think we shouldn't print anything she writes until we meet with her to decide what to do. In the mean time, we need to make sure we have something good printed after the Wizengamot meeting. People need to be informed about Dumbledore. I think we could ask Luna to write something for us." said Susan.

"Susan, your parents would be so proud of you!" said Amelia, giving her niece a hug.

"Thanks auntie."

Harry smiled at Susan. "Those are some great ideas!" he complimented. "Can you make sure that Luna is at the Wizengamot meeting tomorrow?"

"No problem."

"See. I knew I could trust you with this," Harry said with a smile.

After lunch, the guests all returned home. Neville was these last to leave, giving a hug and kiss on the cheek to Astoria.

Harry turned to his two favorite girls. "So who's ready for a surprise?"

He led them to the training room.

"What are those?" asked Astoria.

"That's the surprise."

"What is it?"

"Why don't you take one of the small cases and open it?"

They each grabbed a pistol case and opened it.

"What are they?" Daphne asked.

"Guns. Well, handguns to be specific. The long things are called magazines." Harry walked over to the crate and pulled out a box of the smallest bullets. "These are bullets. To put them in the magazine and you out the magazine in the gun. When you squeeze the trigger, the bullet shoots out of the groovy off the gun reality fast. A bullet can severely hurt or kill someone. I'm don't know exactly how everything works, so let's read the instructions."

Daphne was a little skeptical about the muggle weapon. Even though she didn't look down on muggles, she still found it difficult to imagine that they could create something so lethal.

After reading through the instructions carefully several times to learn exactly how to load the gun and how to use the safety, the three of them headed to the back of the manor, careful to make sure they didn't point their guns at each other.

They each picked a tree and practiced shooting the guns at the tree. Astoria picked up on it immediately. She found that she was stable enough with one hand that she didn't even need to grip the gun with both hands at a time. Clearly her accuracy with spell casting also transferred to the gun as well.

"Harry!" shouted Astoria. "I think my gun stopped working."

"Did you use up all the bullets?"

"Huh?"

"When you run out of bullets, you need to put more in. So press the small button on the side to release the empty magazine and then put a full one in."

"Oh.. Wait. Can we charm the magazine to be never ending?"

"I don't know. Maybe we can try that later."

Once they got the hang of using the pistols safely, Harry conjured targets for them to practice on. Astoria was again the most accurate.

"Can these get past shields?" asked Daphne.

"I think so, but only some of them," Harry answered. "The bullets are just physical objects, so they can go through shields that only block magic. But also, since they're so small and they move so fast, they can probably get through some weaker _protegos_."

The three of them went to bed early to get a good night's sleep for the important day tomorrow. Harry remembered the letters from Ron and Hermione, but didn't want to ruin his good mood, so he decided that he would put them off till later, if he even bothered to read them.

When Daphne came out of the bathroom wearing an almost see through negligee, Harry's eyes widened.

Daphne shielded at his reaction. "Like what you see?"

Blushing, Harry said, "You don't know what you do to me."

Daphne climbed into bed in front of Harry, wiggling backwards so that Harry's chest was pressing against her back. Harry put his arm around her waist.

"Oh I think I do," she said before they both drifted off to sleep in each others arms.


End file.
